In February 2018 a group of FPMT students traveled together from Australia to Kathmandu, Nepal, for a pilgrimage led by Gen Thubten Dondrub*, FPMT resident teacher at Buddha House, an FPMT center in Australia. In addition to encountering Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Nepal, the pilgrims visited many holy places: Boudhanath Stupa; Namo Buddha Stupa; Swayambhunath Stupa; holy sites in Sankhu, Pharping, and Patan; Nagi Gompa; the Maratika Caves; and ancient city temples associated with the deities Tara and Vajrayogini. This story was compiled by some of the Buddha House pilgrims.

On February 3, 2018, twenty-two students from five FPMT centers in Australia—Buddha House; Hayagriva Buddhist Centre; Tara Meditation Centre; Vajrayana Institute; and Gyalwa Ensapa Broome Buddhist Study Group—flew into Kathmandu, Nepal, for the beginning of what turned out to be very auspicious twenty-one days of pilgrimage.

Arriving at Kopan Monastery, the FPMT monastery in Kathmandu, around midnight, the group was greeted the next morning with a thrill—they discovered Lama Zopa Rinpoche was in residence at Kopan for Losar (Tibetan New Year) and would be there through to the Day of Miracles.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised in “Practices for Pilgrimage”: “How do we make pilgrimage as meaningful, useful and beneficial as possible? The main point of pilgrimage is to subdue our minds. By eliminating mistaken thoughts, not allowing the mind to be under the control of delusion, the mind is better able to actualize the lam-rim realizations, from guru devotion up to enlightenment.”

Gen Thubten Dondrub began the pilgrimage with a strict pre-warning to those about to join him, saying, “You are not on a holiday.” We would be visiting the holy sites in Kathmandu, the Kathmandu Valley, and Maratika Caves, where we would recite prayers, mantras, and engage in practices including tsog offerings.

Due to the kindness and great effort of Judy Wagner, Buddha House spiritual program coordinator, a portable altar, water bowls, and offerings were set up at each holy site—even if the tsog had to be guarded from cunning monkeys!

To fulfill Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice of not wasting time, Gen Thubten Dondrub made the most of our lengthy bus and jeep rides through Kathmandu traffic, leading Tara and Vajrasattva practices in the morning and dedications during the rides home.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised in “Practices for Pilgrimage”: “Devotion is very important in pilgrimage, otherwise we are no different from a tourist—taking pictures of that place, that rock, that cave, with no change to the mind, the heart.”

The tight itinerary was subject to change and impermanence; each day news came through of special pujas, initiations, and prayers being offered by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in Kopan’s main gompa.

Gen Thubten Dondrub and Peter Wagner, pilgrimage coordinator and Buddha House student, did an excellent job navigating the changes; all of our planned site visits were fulfilled around Rinpoche’s schedule.

Buddha House and Gen Thubten Dondrub hosted a lunch for Lama Zopa Rinpoche; Ven. Roger Kunsang, FPMT CEO; Khen Rinpoche Geshe Thubten Chonyi, Kopan Monastery and Nunnery abbot; Western Sangha; and the group of pilgrims. We shared lunch at Hotel Vajra in Kathmandu, which included singing “Happy Birthday” to Tenzin Ösel Hita using Facetime!

This lunch came about due to an offer by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to spend the day with the pilgrims. The day commenced with Rinpoche bestowing the Bodhisattva Vows at Jamchen Lhakhang Monastery, a Sakya monastery at Boudhanath Stupa, and finished twelve hours later after a lengthy circumambulation of Swayambanath Stupa with Rinpoche giving many explanations, offerings, prayer recitations, and dedications along the way.

How amazing—wow, wow, wow!—for the pilgrims to meet and spend time with the precious Guru.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised in “Practices for Pilgrimage”: “Actually, on pilgrimage it’s very good to have difficulties because they purify the mind. We have to understand that difficulties purify the negativities; it’s like when we do Vajrasattva retreat and become sick. Think, ‘I am going to this place to purify my mind—to purify all the negative karmas and defilements—and to collect extensive merit, in order to have the realization of lamrim.’

“With such a motivation, when we experience problems or difficulties, these become worthwhile. … Yet if hardships are experienced with the thought of the eight worldly dharmas—with attachment clinging to this life—then there is no special benefit; they only become torture.”

The trip was not without difficulties for most of the pilgrims. From chest to stomach complaints, including knees, hips, and backs, the pilgrims took their turns taking on their purifications with acceptance, knowing how much hardship the great masters of the past bore to practice Dharma.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised in “Practices for Pilgrimage”: “One lama made the comment that when the great, holy beings—buddhas, bodhisattvas, and yogis—go on pilgrimage, they bless the place. And when ordinary people go there, they receive blessings from that place. So pilgrimage means to receive blessings from the holy places to inspire our mind to transform into the path.”

Many holy places were visited including Boudhanath Stupa; Namo Buddha Stupa; Swayambhunath Stupa; holy sites in Sankhu, Pharping, and Patan; and ancient city temples associated with the deities Tara and Vajrayogini.

Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery (Kopan Nunnery) was also a memorable visit. The nuns were very welcoming as we all stocked up on the incense that is made on site.

Gen Thubten Dondrub included Nagi Gompa in the itinerary; it is located high up in Shivapuri National Park with a panoramic view of the Kathmandu Valley. The national park and nunnery were covered with snow that morning. It was just magical. After completing our practices and prayers in the beautiful little gompa—and devouring a packed lunch from Kopan—the day cleared up, giving us a stunning view of the valley on our return journey.

Our itinerary concluded with a nine-hour jeep ride to the Maratika Caves, also known as Haleshi.

According to Condense Guide to Maratika—prepared by Maratika Lama (Ngawang Chophel Gyatso), a student of the Lawudo Lama, and blessed by Trulshik Rinpoche, one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachers—Padmasambhava said, “If one visits this great holy place called Haleshi or ‘Astonishing,’ one will not need to experience the lower realms.”

Many thanks go to our compassionate and patient guide Amber Bamjan Tamang, owner of Three Jewels Adventures, for his flexibility and care during the entire pilgrimage. Amber is a Buddhist who holds a master’s degree in culture from Tribhuwan University, Kathmandu. Gen Thubten Dondrub has led four pilgrimages for Australian FPMT centers with Amber as the guide each time.

We also thank Amber’s wonderful team of experienced drivers, who maneuvered the traffic and rocky roads in Kathmandu and the Kathmandu Valley. They also took us through the rugged terrain going to and from the Maratika Caves, which was an experience in itself!

The “family feeling” (or “pamily peeling” as Lama Yeshe used to say) was truly present at Kopan and for the whole pilgrimage.

We were all so fortunate to have Lama Zopa Rinpoche in residence at Kopan during our visit; to be able to have tea, make offerings, and spend time with Thubten Rigsel Rinpoche and Tenzin Phunstok Rinpoche; and to have the opportunity to connect with pilgrims from other Australian FPMT centers and fellow worldwide travelers who were staying at Kopan, sharing experiences and stories.

Everyone at Kopan was so welcoming and helpful—especially Ani Fran with all her knowledge and assistance during our stay; the wonderful Ven. Joan Nicell for accompanying us to Pharping and leading our practices and prayers that day; Ani Tenzin Namdrol, who is in charge of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s apartment, for her support with anything that we needed for our pujas and practices at the holy sites; and Ven. Lobsang Lourdup (“Bijay”) and the other monks in the office for all their assistance. They all keep that wonderful “family feeling” alive!

Lastly and by no means least, a great big “Thank you!” to Gen Thubten Dondrub—for not only leading the pilgrimage—but also for constantly displaying his devotion to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and his dedication to the FPMT organization through his actions and words.

Gen Thubten Donbrub is such a wonderful humble monk who first met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Chenrezig Institute back in the mid 1970’s. Gen Thubten Dondrub’s stories, and the references he makes to the lamas during his teachings, helps students feel a strong connection and that FPMT “family feeling.”

Gen Thubten Dondrub has led the November Course at Kopan eight times, teaching hundreds of students from all over the world and influencing so many lives, with some students even going on to take ordination. Staying at Kopan Monastery with this knowledge during the pilgrimage was truly amazing.

We would like to acknowledge and thank Gen Thubten Dondrub for everything he has contributed to help spread the Dharma worldwide over the last forty years. We are so very fortunate at Buddha House to have him as our resident teacher; he has made such a difference since he arrived in 2012.

By the look of all those smiles in these photos, it seems an abundance of blessings were received on the pilgrimage!

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* In 2019 Gen Thubten Dondrub requested Buddha House students formally refer to him as “Gen Thubten Dondrub.” He shared, “Usually monks and nuns of the FPMT are referred to as ‘Venerable.’ I have always found this term uncomfortable as it is a very exalted term and is used in the Catholic Church to refer to someone who is in line to be canonized as a saint. When I was in Taiwan I learned that every monk and nun was addressed as ‘Fa Shr’ from the moment they were ordained. The term means ‘Dharma teacher.’ The closest Tibetan equivalent is ‘ge.gen,’ often abbreviated to ‘Gen’ or ‘Gen-la.’ It is polite and friendly. So when people ask how to address me, I suggest using that term. It seems much more appropriate than ‘Venerable.'”

For more information about Buddha House, visit their website:
http://buddhahouse.org

Maitreya Instituut in the Netherlands hosted an interfaith dialogue that transcended the usual exchange of words. Buddhist and Sufi students came together to learn about each other’s traditions and to practice during a four-day retreat focused on compassion.

Interfaith activities are one of FPMT’s five pillars of service. Maarten de Vries, assistant director of Maitreya Instituut Loenen, describes the special event that took place in late 2018. 

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All human beings are like the various organs of a body. In the universe, everything is created as interdependent and in need of each other. Consequently, the one who has hurt another actually has hurt himself, and done himself great harm! — Rūmī, 13th-century Persian Sufi mystic

Just as the body, which has many parts owing to its division into arms and so forth, should be protected as a whole, so should this entire world, which is differentiated and yet has the nature of the same suffering and happiness. I should eliminate the suffering of others because it is suffering, just like my own suffering. I should take care of others because they are sentient beings, just as I am a sentient being. — Shantideva, 8th-century Indian Buddhist monk and scholar¹

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In November 2018, Maitreya Instituut Loenen in the Netherlands organized a four-day retreat lead by Sheikha Nur Artıran, president of the Şefik Can International Mevlânâ Education and Culture Foundation in Istanbul, Turkey, and Ven. Losang Gendun, FPMT resident teacher of Maitreya Instituut Amsterdam. The purpose of the interfaith retreat was to create a space for a participatory dialogue between Islamic Sufism and Tibetan Buddhism, not through mere theological debate, but through the sharing of spiritual practice and bonds of friendship.

The theme “compassion” was approached through Buddhist meditation, Sufi contemplations, mantra and dhikr² recitation, discussions, and aspirational prayer. Moreover, Nur’s group of dervishes performed sama, the famous swirling ritual done by Mevlevi Sufis following their founder Jalāl ad-Dīn Rūmī. The retreat was attended by thirty-five people from both communities and interested others.

“Nur and I met six years ago in Toulouse, France. We were invited by the Sufi organization Association Internationale Soufie Alâwiyya (AISA),” Ven. Gendun said. “Where many interreligious dialogues tend to carefully tread around sensitive subjects or become apologetic, our first conversation was uninhibited and frank. During Nur’s lecture I was struck by the amount of citations from Rūmī that have counterparts in Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavattara (A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life). That realization set the tone of our ensuing and enduring conversations.

“Two months later, our first breakfast together in her community’s dargah in Istanbul, consisted of a three-hour long exchange on a broad range of topics. To the amusement of the people attending, every ‘Shantideva states’ was followed by a ‘Rumi says’—a format that the retreatants in Loenen are now well familiar with.

“During that first visit to Istanbul, Nur remarked how little authentic Buddhism exists there and went ahead to organize an occasion for me to lecture. From the start our relationship has been one not only of cooperation, but of participation, and so to lead a retreat together in Loenen was the natural result of six years of friendship and exchange.”

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A person who lives according to the wishes and desires of his soul is like a dry leaf. Such people are swept up by the winds of every fancy and craving. However, people who are aware of the higher Divine power within themselves are like a high mountain. Is it possible for such a person to disperse in the winds of wish and desire? — Rūmī

Just as a plantain tree decays upon losing its fruit, so does every other virtue wane. But the tree of the Spirit of Awakening perpetually bears fruit, does not decay, and only flourishes. — Shantideva

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There was a conference in Amsterdam, which was well attended, that preceded the compassion retreat. Very appropriately, a large delegation of the Dutch AISA community joined the conference and dedicated the evening with extensive recitations.

A sizable group of dervishes from Nur’s community and a large group of students from the Matireya Instituut center in Amsterdam went on to do the retreat in Loenen. The mornings opened with meditations on the four immeasurable thoughts and bodhichitta, followed by similar contemplations led by Sheikha Nur after breakfast.This was followed by an exploration of the Tara and Chenrezig mantras, and of the Sufi dhikr. Instruction was given on how to meditate on them, interspersed with communal chanting.

Without my foreknowledge, the dervishes had prepared a melody for the Tara mantra and lead us in its recitation accompanied by guitar and sitar. The rest of the days were spent contemplating, meditating on, and discussing various topics—such as impermanence and mortality, interdependence and selflessness, and love and guru devotion—from the perspectives of our respective traditions, not as arguments, but trying to substantiate and complement each other.

Saturday provided the highlight of the retreat with a breath-taking demonstration of sama, the musical ceremony of whirling dervishes, recounting the qualities of the prophets and Allah. Clothed in black funerary robes, signifying the ego’s death, the dervishes circumambulate their teacher as planets do the sun.

An aspect of the dervish’s training that comes remarkably close to the tantric practice of pure view is to perceive all things as manifestations of the divine, and all utterances as those of their sheikh, realizing that our suffering perspective is merely caused by our own ignorance of the true nature of things. Moreover they avoid the pronoun “I” and substitute it with “faqhir,” the poor and humble one, comparable to bhikshu or “beggar,” while addressing others with “can,” “beloved” or “soul.” This obviously opened fertile avenues to discuss. The final morning saw Shantideva’s famous argument for exchanging self and other broached, which seemed appropriate for the occasion.

An additional benefit of the retreat was the opportunity afforded to our two communities to meet, exchange and bond, in the hope of bringing them closer and undertaking more future initiatives together. Much like a what French feminist and intellectual Simone de Beauvoir said: it is in the face of the other that we truly get to see ourselves.

The retreat manifested my hope that our intimate way of sharing our spirituality would open the hearts of the participants to enjoy the specialness of their own lineage. And do this with freedom from grasping at it as an identity, but instead rejoice and participate in the beauty of a sister tradition. To share the fire of our candle never diminishes the light, the Buddha said.

The retreat will become an annual event in the Netherlands and also will be hosted in France. Hopefully we can organize them soon in Turkey as well. We are working on translations of comparative selections from the works of Rūmī and Shantideva to support these efforts.

One participants said, “Such an interreligious way of working in a retreat has, in my opinion, really added value for both communities and for our spiritual work in the broad sense. This retreat goes further than what you often see at interreligious meetings, where one just brings forward thoughts from one’s own tradition. We went much further and built something together from a shared inspiration and intention. That was my impression. It seems more like an interreligious session as it once happened in a certain period of the Moghul electorate in India.”

Another participant reflected, “In these times where the world is rapidly and scarily heading towards ever more polarization and aggression against the ‘other,’ the coming together of these two traditions through teachers like Sheikha Nur Artıran and Ven. Losang Gendun is a hopeful beacon of energy, light, and above all love.”

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We are the remedy of all problems, relief of the helpless. We are like the Sun on this Earth. We have come to give life to all, to be beneficial and helpful to the whole humanity. To be friendly to the people whose hearts have been broken and become destitute; We came to share their sadness and grief. We are born to bring them, who have fallen into contempt, who fell on the ground, and those who were disregarded, to the rose garden and grant them mirth. We are not the property of a few people, like gold. We are like oceans, mines; we are the property of everyone who live in this world. — Rūmī

A well-intentioned person who thinks, ‘I shall eliminate the headaches of sentient beings,’ bears immeasurable merit. What then of a person who desires to remove the incomparable pain of every single being and endows them with immeasurable good qualities? He satisfies with all joys those who are starving for happiness and eliminates all the sorrows of those who are afflicted in many ways. He dispels delusion. Where else is there such a Saint? Where else is there such a friend? Where else is there such merit? — Shantideva

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1. The quotes from Rūmī were translated by Şefik Can International Mevlânâ Education and Culture Foundation. Quotes from Shantideva were taken from the translation of the Bodhicaryavattara by Vesna and Alan Wallace.

2. Dihkr may be short phrases or prayers that are repeatedly recited, similar to Buddhist mantras.

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For more, visit Maitreya Instituut online; also, read other stories about Interfaith activities within FPMT.

Ven. Amy Miller, an FPMT registered teacher, has been informally leading people to Lawudo in Nepal’s Solu Khumbu District since 1990. She shares about the October 5-22, 2018, trip she led for twenty-three people from around the world.

It was only a week before our journey to Lawudo, when my sister called me from England and mentioned how much she admired what I was undertaking—leading a group of twenty-three people up to a remote retreat center in Solu Khumbu District in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal.

When I hung up the phone, I realized I had been in denial about what we were planning to do. Of course the trip was well planned, thought-out, and supported, but when traveling to a high elevation in a remote area with incredibly challenging terrain, dire things can happen.

I swallowed my trepidation and forged ahead, landing in Nepal on September 28, 2018. I wanted to be rested and bright-eyed for the group’s arrival on October 5.

We converged at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery (Kopan Nunnery) for dinner. Our group came from Australia and Wales, from points all over the United States, from North and South America, and Europe, and they penetrated deep into my heart.

Within a week we were family, helping each other in a variety of ways: listening to each other’s coughs, passing around diarrhea remedies, tissues, and advice about the toilets. We shared laughs and compared our lifestyles that were incredibly varied. We were nurses and teachers; paramedics; mental health workers; yoga instructors; husbands and wives; mothers, fathers, and grandparents; nuns; aspiring yogis and yoginis; massage therapists; healers; retired civil rights workers; administrators; cleaners; and human beings who had an urge to explore and test the outer edges of the envelope, and reach this place called “Lawudo.”

After an introductory day walking the dusty lanes of old Thamel in Kathmandu—visiting the holy Chenrezig and Tara Temples near the Asan Tole market, the magical Prajnaparamita Temple, the magnificent Boudhanath Stupa, and Kopan Monastery where we enjoyed a lovely visit with Thubten Rigsel Rinpoche, the reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche Geshe Lama Lhundrup—we prepared to fly up to Lukla, a small trekking village in Solu Khumbu District the next morning.

It was a challenging time at the Kathmandu domestic airport, trying to get a group of twenty-five people up to Lukla in two planes. Somehow—after one group had already waited eight hours—the Red Sea parted. By 2:00 p.m. on October 7—with the clouds in Lukla still sitting high—the group landed on the mini landing strip in Lukla, and we were all ready for our walk.

Getting a late start, we offered tea lights and incense at the famous naga tree just outside of Lukla to aid our journey. We then crawled through some slippery rain—and eventually the dark—to arrive in Phakding, a small village in Solu Khumbu District, for our first night’s stay in the mountains. All was well.

The next day was our most rigorous with the Namche Hill enroute; most of us struggled our way to the top. We were exhausted and experiencing the altitude, but had three nights in Namche Bazaar and a hot shower (!) so there was time to re-energize.

Our lodge owners were lovely—Dawa who owns Himalaya Lodge in Lukla; old friends of mine who own Namaste Lodge in Phakding; and Nuru and Nawang who own Holiday Lodge in Namche—but the most phenomenal support came from Amber Tamang, our ground operator, and his amazing staff: Mingmar, Gausman, Pemba, and Sangay, along with a team of eight wonderful porters. We could not have done this trip without each of them.

We explored the rich trekking town of Namche—taking in views of Mt. Everest in the morning; hiking to the Everest View Hotel for lunch; visiting the Buddhist temple above the town; seeing museums; shopping for last minute items; and acclimatizing—all while becoming more and more bonded to each other.

The anticipation of Lawudo dangled in front of us, and finally on November 11, we were off ambling through the easiest part of the walk before the next big hill. We stopped in Teschio at the bottom of the hill for noodles, and then the final climb began.

A turn in the pine forest opened up a view; I gestured toward the massive expanse of a mountain and far above us: “Lawudo.”

We arrived at Lawudo in the afternoon of November 11 to a wonderful greeting from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s sister and brother, Ani Ngawang Samten and Sangay Sherpa who were coming across the yard. The support they gave us—the spoiling; the amazing team they hired; the delicious food—it was all quite stunning as it is such a hard place to live and work. We settled in and I was able to sit with everyone in the Lawudo cave that afternoon.

Our three-day silent retreat began the next evening, and everyone in our group joined whether Buddhist or not. It was heart-warming to feel the interest of everyone; how hard they worked at their meditations; and how the Lawudo family joyously supported us.

At the end, much to my total surprise, Anila and Sangay offered a mandala to me (as if I was some holy being!), but I was able to convince Anila to move the mandala to Rinpoche’s throne as it was all a bit much for me. So kind!

The holy blessings of the guru; the concentration of the retreat in such a holy place; the tremendous effort made by the participants who were suffering from various colds and ailments; and the fantastic seamless support we received made it one of the richest experiences of my life. It felt like we were held in a sacred net of love.

The retreat finished the morning of November 16, and we went on some outings. We went on a twenty-minute walk behind Lawudo to Cherok to visit Pema Choden, a holy nun who lives in a cave, and walked a half hour down the hill from Lawudo to Thamo to visit the grand nunnery there and see some old friends.

On the way to Cherok we had the great fortune to pass and briefly talk with Cherok Lama, whom I have known since he was a child.

Ani Pema Choden, however is not one to open her home to twenty-some westerners. I was just hoping to borrow the keys to Merry and Harry’s caves, and show the caves to the group. She had other ideas, and ushered every last one of us inside for hot tang. Truly amazing!

We then hiked off to find the caves, and then slowly headed back to Lawudo for lunch, before heading down the hill to Thamo to visit the nunnery.

The nunnery’s gompa is over-the-top in beauty, and it’s wonderful that the nuns finally have an adequate place to live and practice. We were warmed up with tea while some of us sat in one of the nun’s rooms and the rest sat in the gompa during a puja. All were welcome, but as one pilgrim mentioned it was clearly a place of powerful women. No doubt!

The next day was a major trek to Thame—the birthplace of Lama Zopa Rinpoche—where we enjoyed lunch at Thame View Lodge. The lodge is now run by the brother of dear friends who live in Queens, New York, US, who are Rinpoche’s cousins. We were moved by the humble poor origins of Rinpoche’s birthplace. We visited Thame Gompa and the new stupa, modeled after the Boudhanath Stupa. We were fortunate to see wild mountain goats and returned to Lawudo for our last night.

After one week, we said our farewells to Lawudo—to the amazing team; to Anila and Sangay; the holy cave; and to a few pilgrims who were either staying at Lawudo for retreat or heading off to other treks—and then we beat it back down the hill for lunch in Namche. It felt a lot easier descending.

We spent the night at Monju Guest House before heading back to Lukla the next morning. It was lovely to reconnect with two pilgrims who stayed in Namche—and other than our three guys who split off from the group—we were all together again.

Next was the day we were supposed to fly down from Lukla to Kathmandu. And it didn’t go very well. So we waited, and Amber called everyone he knew to try to get us down off the mountain. We were divided up so we could travel to Kathmandu by helicopters. Some people left in helicopters, some didn’t. Some people that we thought had gotten down to Kathmandu were still standing around in Lukla hours later. Some people got down to Kathmandu and then waited on the tarmac in Kathmandu for luggage that hadn’t arrived.

Twelve of us got stuck in Lukla overnight, and after much eager anticipation earlier that morning—thinking about being at the luxurious Hyatt Hotel in Kathmandu that evening—by 6 p.m. we were back at Himalaya Lodge in Lukla, dazed and confused, meekly ordering yet another veg fried rice.

Yet the resiliency of the group prevailed, and for the most part everyone just dealt with what was happening without complaints or negativity. Our group energy—the family feeling—was a true boon for keeping our spirits high and our sense of humor intact. After all, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s interest is often in how disciples bear hardship. Not that all of the participants were disciples, but I think we were doing our best to bear the hardships.

Amber’s efforts, along with lodge owner Dawa, were fully admirable. We would not have made it down to Kathmandu so early the next morning had it not been for their efforts. It seemed once we were down at the Hyatt Hotel, ensconced in the hotel’s overwhelming breakfast buffet, most of the airport fiasco went away. Many commented on how the experience really made them appreciate the ease of our lives in the west.

So now most everyone has moved on to return home or onto other journeys. I have never felt such gratitude for being held by all the powers that be, so we could make this trip and stay safe and relatively healthy.

There is much to digest, which I hope to do back on the mountain. I am hoping to fly back up tomorrow morning, and will try to make it to Thamo nunnery for two Nyung näs, and then back up to Lawudo for a six-week retreat.

I will no longer have to count to see if everyone is with us, and will no longer have to make sure the spirits of those slower on the trail are still upbeat, and that everyone has food and is warm enough. It will be a party of one, but I will miss them all. I have decided it’s best that I carry them all in my heart. During my retreat, if they need extra support, I will make sure Anila keeps them safe and warm in the folds of her robes.

Watch Ven. Amy Miller’s nine-minute video about a previous trip:
https://youtu.be/0fEKPCFPxuI

 

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For more information about Ven. Amy Miller, visit her website:
http://www.amymiller.com

Few things are more precious than being able to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama teach in Bodhgaya, India, the location of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Australian student Cynthia Karena, a regular contributor to Mandala, traveled to India in December 2018 for teachings with His Holiness and shared this report with us.

I’m in Bodhgaya to see and hear His Holiness teach. He begins teaching on Christmas Eve with The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva and will finish with the Manjushri empowerments.

Most of us are lucky that we don’t have mountains to cross by foot to be in the presence of His Holiness.

But the obstacles still come our way; it’s never that easy, especially in Bodhgaya, where it is in equal measure wonderful and dispiriting. Wonderful in that there is of course the stupa and the energy surrounding the place where the Buddha actually gained enlightenment. To be there is amazing. And dispiriting because invariably there is the “Bodhgaya blessing” (a cold and cough), not to mention stomach bugs.

Seeing beggars is interesting, and I mean interesting in how we individually relate to them.

If this was a Kalachakra initiation, a Bodhgaya location would attract hundreds of thousands of people, but this year the crowds are in the more manageable tens of thousands. Estimates ranged from 40,000 to 50,000 at peak attendance.

A couple of practical tips given by His Holiness, mentioned before in teachings elsewhere, played on my mind this year. His Holiness spoke about giving with respect, which changed the way I give to the beggars lining the streets of Bodhgaya. I also noticed a Tibetan security guard having a light-hearted chat with one of the disfigured beggars and then shaking his hand. For me, it transformed the thought of beggars solely wanting money; some also, of course, want that human connection.

His Holiness also mentioned learning from “our Christian brothers and sisters who have helped so many people in need with health and education facilities.”

Root Institute does social service well with its school and health center, as well as MAITRI Charitable Trust with its programs. Since His Holiness has mentioned this a few times, I’m wondering how this type of service can be done elsewhere, in addition to visiting schools and raising money or donating goods to people in need. 

At the long life puja for His Holiness, watching the oracles arrive and leave is a fascinating spectacle, with their colorful costumes, movements, head gear, and facial expressions.

I scooped up some seeds that the Nechung Oracle, the State Oracle of Tibet, threw around as he left to give to the eager monks behind me. I kept a few, as I was told they are for protection. So apparently there is more to Buddhism than study and meditation!

Before leaving Bodhgaya, we did a couple of pilgrimages, to the Mahakala Cave and a couple of days later climbed the grueling 2,000 steps up the holy mountain of Gurpa, where legend says that when Kassapa, one of the Buddha’s disciples, meditated and had rocks closed around him, only to be released when the future Maitreya Buddha arrives.

In January next year His Holiness returns to Bodhgaya to finish the empowerments that he was not able to complete in Bodhgaya this time.

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Learn more about His Holiness the Dalai Lama at DalaiLama.com. Offering service to His Holiness the Dalai Lama is one of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s vast visions for the FPMT organization.

Cynthia Karena has a science degree and a masters in education. She is a freelance journalist and documentary researcher in Australia.

FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.

Ianzhina Bartanova, director of FPMT center Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, shares about an August 2018 fourteen-day pilgrimage the center organized to holy sites in Mongolia.

Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling placed an advertisement in the January-June 2018 issue of FPMT’s Mandala magazine inviting readers to join us for an August 2018 pilgrimage to the holy sites in Mongolia. It was the first pilgrimage for Western Buddhists organized by Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling. Three courageous students from Bulgaria, Holland, and the US arrived in Mongolia in mid-August for the eleven-day pilgrimage, which later expanded into fourteen days.

The capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, is impressive: tall modern buildings, busy traffic, expensive cars on the roads, fancy restaurants with international cuisine including vegan and vegetarian options, comfortable hotels, and smiling people.

But the real jewels of our pilgrimage were the Mongolian monasteries, some of which were destroyed and then restored. A few survived the Communist purges of the 1930s and are home to some hidden artifacts, which were buried in the ground. Like the canvas for a masterpiece, Mongolia’s natural environment provided a framed backdrop for the holy sites, which appear like beautiful jewelry.

Together with the pilgrims, we visited approximately ten monasteries, took in a few natural sights, and made some visits related to Buddhist museums. When developing the itinerary, we recognized the importance of sharing some cultural aspects and traditions so our guests could have a richer experience of Mongolia. Therefore, we included some secular activities such as a traditional music show and a sightseeing visit to the largest Genghis Khan equestrian statue.

Our journey commenced in Ulaanbaatar at Gandan Tegchenling Monastery, the center of Mongolian Buddhism. It was the only Buddhist monastery preserved during the Socialist era. Joseph Stalin had the wish to demonstrate to the whole capitalist world that there was religious freedom in a socialist country.

Another special feature is that many monasteries in the countryside are located on hills or on top of a mountain. With each visit, we were able to enjoy not only the spiritual heritage of the place, but also breathtaking panoramic views.

The peak experience of our journey was visiting Tuvkhun Monastery, on top of Shireet Ulaan Uul mountain. Tuvkhun Monastery was founded by the great bodhisattva Zanabazar, the first Jebtsundamba, the “Dalai Lama” of Mongolia. We were able to feel the powerful and blessed energy of the monastery.

During our spiritual practices we experienced some obstacles, which we viewed as helping us to purify our collective and individual negative karmas. Major lessons of the pilgrimage were around purification of negative karma and the accumulation of merits. We practiced patience by sitting up in a vehicle for twelve hours. Our backs and buttocks were well and truly massaged by the end!

Actually we could call ourselves very fortunate because we were able to see the flood in the Gobi Desert! It was an unimaginable and almost impossible natural phenomenon—a rare sight! Due to the flood in the Gobi Desert, the only road leading to Khamar Monastery had been washed away. We had no alternative but to turn back after one full day of driving. Most of the group returned to this destination at a later time, when the ground had dried. This is the reason our pilgrimage was extended for a further three days.

There were some other obstacles, such as tensions and closed restaurants. However, reflecting upon how the pilgrimage impacted myself, I can say that all challenges were not an issue providing a correct motivation was maintained for our activities. Serving the Guru is the best one. Through correct devotion and service to the Guru we can purify hundreds of eons of negative karma and benefit many sentient beings around us.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche said, “Pilgrimage needs faith. The more faith, the more happiness. Otherwise, you are just like a tourist looking at ruins.”

Following Rinpoche’s advice, we recited Dharma prayers and did practices at every place we visited. We recited the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas, lamrim prayers, and the great bodhisattva Zanabazar’s special prayer. Ven. Thubten Gyalmo, our resident teacher, kindly guided us through setting a proper motivation at the beginning of our pilgrimage and a making our dedications at the end.

It was very interesting to observe the play of our respective karmas in such a short time. On the tenth day of our pilgrimage, we were blessed with an audience with Jhado Rinpoche! A wonderful surprise for us all! As novices on the Dharma path, we couldn’t imagine that Rinpoche would find time in his very busy schedule to talk to us.

By the end of the pilgrimage we had all become great friends. We are not sure if our paths will cross again. However, we admit that there was a strong karmic bond that connected us all in Mongolia.

I will conclude my story with one special highlight. One night when we were in the middle of nowhere, in an eco ger camp without electricity and water, we saw an exquisite night sky full of bright stars. I had the impression that I could reach up and touch the sky, and all of these stars were bound together like one shiny net. So likewise were we linked together in the net of samsara.

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For more information about Ganden Do Ngag Shedrup Ling, visit their website:
http://www.fpmtmongolia.org/shedrub-ling-center

In the remote borderlands of the high Himalayas, several valleys are said to be beyul—hidden or secret valleys—only open to those with very pure minds and hearts. According to ancient scriptures, they were established by Guru Rinpoche, the 8th-century Indian saint credited with spreading Buddhism into the Himalayas and Tibet.

In the 17th century the Tsum valley that branches off the Buri Gandaki River towards the north of Ganesh Himalaya (Mountain) in upper Gorkha District, Nepal, was named Beyul Kyimolung. Perhaps one of Nepal’s most beautiful valleys, it is cut off from the southern lowlands of Nepal by deep, forested gorges and swift rivers, and from Tibet in the north by snow-covered passes.

In May 2018 a group of twenty-two pilgrims, including Losang Dragpa Center resident teacher Geshe Jampa Tsundu, Tsum Project coordinator and former Rinchen Jangsem Ling secretary Low Yuet Kiew (“YK”), and FPMT Southeast Asia regional coordinator Selina Foong traveled together to Tsum, Nepal. Here, Selina shares her experience of the pilgrimage.

When I first heard that my friend YK, who is a member of two FPMT centers in Malaysia—Losang Dragpa Centre and Rinchen Jangsem Ling—was organizing a trip to the hidden valley of Tsum, Nepal, my hand shot up so fast that I just about dislocated my shoulder. Only later did random thoughts start to niggle. Will the helicopter ride cost a fortune? What sort of altitude are we talking about? The last time I hiked up any mountain (more like a hill by Nepal standards) was several years ago—how will my knees, now thrashed, hold up?

All doubts dissipated as our departure date neared. The time has come for sheer excitement! Final trip arrangements, lunch at Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery in Kathamandu, Nepal, a trial climb up to 2,700 meters (8,858 feet) altitude outside Kathmandu, kora at Boudha Stupa, and two peaceful nights in Kopan Monastery brought us to the day, Thursday, May 10, 2018, when we left the world behind and entered a blessed realm filled with riches far beyond our imagination.

Ethereal waterfalls tumbling down rugged mountains so steep they were just about vertical. Jagged snowy peaks luminous from the rays of the sun as far as the eye could see. A lone eagle of majestic wing span, slowly soaring over the vast valley below. Holy caves latent with the enlightened energy of past meditators, including Milarepa and Geshe Lama Konchog. The inspiring spirituality and genuine kindness of virtually everybody we met. Simply recalling all this is making my heart ache with the sweetest yearning.

It took four helicopters to ferry twenty-two of us from Kathmandu to Tsum. They were not kidding about strict weight controls. Only 10kg (22 lbs) of luggage each, which really wasn’t much considering that we would be staying at Rachen Nunnery in Tsum for one week. Inevitably, manic and desperate curtailing went on in many a Kopan bedroom the night before departure!

I will never forget my first sight of Rachen Nunnery. With jaws already slack from forty minutes of gaping at one spectacular mountain after another, Geshe Jampa Tsundu suddenly exclaimed, “Look! Rachen!”

Geshe-la was almost as excited as we were! It had been several years since he himself was there as resident teacher, and he was so looking forward to seeing all the monks and nuns again.

I stared into the distance. “Yes, I see it!” A low flat structure laid out in a huge square sharply contrasted against an expansive white wonderland. After years of hearing, reading, and talking about this place, I could hardly believe that we were actually about to land in it.

With my first step out of the helicopter I got a jolt. It was cold! The morning’s snowfall had turned into freezing drizzle by the time my helicopter (number three) landed. An auspicious welcome no doubt, but this blast of cold after the Kathmandu heat sent shock waves through my undoubtedly tropical heart.

Greetings, khatas, shouts of delight,—then we all hurried along into the warmth of the dining room for very hot tea. And so passed our first day at Rachen.

Among a blur of happiness and wonder was a group audience with Drukpa Rinpoche, who in his past life had founded both Mu Monastery and Rachen Nunnery. This was an unexpected bonus, as Rinpoche normally resides in India these days and “just happened” to be at Rachen. How wonderful!

We also toured the extensive nunnery grounds, which included the original and new gompa buildings, as well as an evocative house built by Geshe Lama Konchog himself.

And on both sides of this flat valley, towering mountains pushed ever upwards into a wide open sky.

Natural splendor aside, the harshness of everyday life was also evident. Food had to be grown at the nunnery grounds or picked from the wild, and occasional one-day walks through the mountains into Tibet were necessary in order to obtain more groceries.

To keep warm, firewood had to be gathered from the nearby jungles (“nearby” being a relative term in Nepal) and hauled back to the nunnery. There was only solar energy to rely on, so needless to say, cloudy days meant icicles in the shower for those foolhardy enough to make the attempt.

Our second day dawned bright and clear, and we joined the nuns in their daily Tara Puja before setting off on our first hike.

First up, Milarepa’s Cave of the Doves! Here, dakinis had transformed into doves in order to listen to the Dharma from Milarepa. There were three separate but adjacent parts—a meditation gompa, a small cave with his very clear footprint on a large rock, and another small gompa with holy statues.

How moving to peer out from those dim tiny spaces towards the endless snowy peaks beyond, and realize that the great saint Milarepa would have done much the same centuries ago, as he meditated on the nature of reality! Galvanized and inspired, I recalled this beautiful line from Calling the Lama from Afar: “Magnificently glorious guru, please bless me to abide one-pointedly in practice in isolated places, not having any hindrances to my practice.”

On our way down, we stopped at another holy cave. Here, the great yogi Geshe Lama Konchog had meditated. Gazing at the piles of stones and then further into the darkness, the tranquility was palpable.

As it turned out, these holy places had a way of suspending the normal passage of time in more ways than one. As we trekked back and looked at our watches, we were suddenly startled. What was to have been an easy walk this morning had turned into a five-hour expedition! Whoops! Blame it on all the posing and photos!

We sped up, got back, gulped down our very late lunch, then changed into brand new orange TSUM t-shirts for the grand opening of the Library of Nalanda Wisdom for Rachen Nunnery, an electronic library consisting of iPads and tablets that each of us had carried to Tsum from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, fully loaded with prayers and teachings. The nuns were so excited! What a happy afternoon it was, with speeches, laughter, applause, balloons, balloons, and yet more balloons.

A good night’s sleep set us up to walk three times further the next day.

Big excitement—we were going to Apey and Mochung’s house for lunch! Parents of both Tenzin Phuntsok Rinpoche (the reincarnation of the late Geshe Lama Konchog) and Thubten Rigsel Rinpoche (the reincarnation of the late Khensur Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup Rigsel), they were so endearingly kind, bending over backwards to return early to Tsum from Kathmandu, just to meet us and cook a huge lunch for us all.

By the time this feast was over, however—and no doubt recalling our dismal pace yesterday—both Geshe Tsundu and Gen Tenpa Choeden decided that we would never make it to the Geshe Lama Konchog retreat cave Gaden Gompa behind Apey and Mochung’s house and be back at the nunnery before nightfall. Disappointment all round! But we were also grateful that they were so concerned for our safety.

In any case, the trek back to Rachen was gorgeous as we took a different route through the jungles and then along the river, accompanied by strains of “Hala Hala ling ling chura chura ling ling! Hara hara ling ling!” sung by our jolly companion nuns.

By the time we all trekked (or staggered) back to the nunnery, our dear lamas must have taken pity on us. We probably looked truly bedraggled! And so it was declared: our program would be adjusted to allow the next day to be free and easy.

This was music to our ears! It also posed a golden opportunity for a few energetic and kiasu pilgrims—six of us to be exact.

Cornering Geshe Tsundu that evening, he finally agreed to lead us back the very next day to Gaden Gompa, where Geshe Lama Konchog had meditated for many years and completed 2,000 nyung nä retreats. But there were two conditions: we had to walk fast this time, and we could not stop every ten seconds to take photos! Like excited children, we agreed. Which was why the very next day, the six of us trotted off along with our Sangha guides at 7:46 a.m. sharp and obediently kept up the pace with military precision.

It turned out to be a very special day. The magnitude of the places we would be visiting that day was not lost on me, and I had made fervent prayers before leaving that we would have the karma to complete the day’s pilgrimage without mishap.

Finally, after an arduous climb, we arrived. All chatter stopped; a gentle hush fell.

As we entered the Geshe Lama Konchog retreat cave Gaden Gompa, I thought of every sentient being—all of them having played a role in bringing me to this point, in this life—and felt overwhelming gratitude toward them all. This experience was only possible in dependence upon all others, and so it was for all others that I experienced it.

Khata after khata was offered, as I also thought about all my dear Dharma friends and travel companions who did not make it that day. We spent a long time there inside the small hut as well as the open area behind it, where Geshe Lama Konchog’s robes and belongings remain sealed in a stone vault. Geshe Tsundu led the prayers and meditation before we finally hung our prayer flags and departed.

Thinking that was it, Geshe Tsundu was about to lead us back down for lunch and the return journey. But after this extraordinary experience, it was plain we were keen for more! In the end, it didn’t take much convincing for Geshe-la as well as Apey to lead us to the Hayagriva cave further along the mountain.

We took turns entering the small cave, where a tiny creek flowed, and an amazing self-emanating torma in a deep shade of red was clearly evident on the rocks. Wow! We had to spread ourselves out flat on the rocks in order to reach the torma and taste some of the holy water. What wonderful blessings!

We returned to Rachen with our hearts singing and bellies filled to the brim after a late lunch at dear Apey and Mochung’s house (again!). It was a merry reunion with everyone in the dining room that evening, as we all recounted the day.

Some had returned to the second Geshe Lama Konchog cave below Milarepa’s Cave of the Doves to spend several happy hours. Others trekked to a nearby village shop, to stock up on basic groceries for the nuns, before returning to cook up a feast for everyone. The fried rice tasted amazing!

Which brings us to our second to last day in Tsum—the day of the tractor. It was a day none of us would ever forget.

Tractor? Yes, tractor. And us in a trailer, with no suspension, pulled by said tractor. Us, meaning approximately twenty not particularly tiny people. Why on earth? Because it was raining solidly from 3 a.m., and there was no way we were going to hike the 30 kilometers (19 miles) round-trip up to Mu Monastery and back in a single day, let alone in cold wet conditions. Nothing for it. As Gen Tenpa Choeden announced, “Die die also must go!”

This got me thinking that Mu Monastery, at an altitude of 3,700 meters (12,139 feet) and in the same direction as Tibet, must really be a fantastically special place.

Oh, the obstacles we encountered in trying to visit Mu! Already postponed twice, it almost looked like we would not be able to go at all—until this tractor and trailer combination (more glamorously referred to as the “Ferrari” by YK) came to our rescue.

In actual fact, “rescue” was the last thing that came to mind. As we banged and crashed through impossible terrain, including wild rivers complete with rocks and raging rapids, at times mere inches from steep ravine edges, it was quite a wonder that we didn’t get transported right into our next lives instead.

There we were—hollering and yowling, sometimes in fits of laughter and other times in sheer terror—squashed together like sardines and getting flung around like rag dolls. Such retrospective fun! Wonderful collective karma, right travel buddies?

But it was so worth it. Mu Monastery was indeed special. Old and isolated, it was like nothing I had ever experienced. Under leaden skies, heavy mist, and enveloped by sharp cold air, I found myself floating in a dream-like world belonging to a different time.

The elderly resident monks were into their first day of the annual Saka Dawa nyung nä retreat in their dark and evocative gompa. We will forever be grateful to have been a small part of it all.

A fitting end to our stay at Tsum was joining the Rachen nuns on the second day of their own nyung nä retreat. As we evoked One-Thousand Arm Avalokiteshvara in this beautiful practice, I prayed for the holy Dharma to flourish in this and all worlds. May the lives of our gurus be long and healthy. May they return to teach us over and over again, until samsara is utterly emptied of all beings.

A big thank you to Gen Tenpa Choeden, Geshe Tsundu, Geshe Nyima, all the Sangha at Rachen Nunnery, Mu Monastery, Khachoe Ghakyil Ling Nunnery, Kopan Monastery, Tsum Project coordinator YK, and all my wonderful travel companions. And a special mention to Geshe Tenzin Zopa, original Tsum Project coordinator and former resident geshe at Losang Dragma Center, who was so instrumental behind the scenes in ensuring that this would be a trip for us to remember for the rest of our lives.

Here’s to our next pilgrimage. And we’d better choose somewhere cold so that we can all wear the new Marmot gear we amassed upon our return to Kathmandu!

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Read Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice for pilgrimage:
https://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/teachers/zopa/advice/Pilgrimage_Advice.pdf

Phil Hunt, coordinator of FPMT probationary project Enlightenment for the Dear Animals, shares about his visit in early 2018 to FPMT project MAITRI Charitable Trust in Bodhgaya, India.

Heading out at dawn through the outskirts of Bodhgaya on one of MAITRI Charitable Trust’s regular Mother & Child mobile clinics, I could quietly witness the pollution and poverty all too apparent at the edges of towns and the main roads.

It’s not the romantic image one would like to have of the place where the Buddha walked and taught all those years ago. Bodhgaya is in Bihar, and Bihar has one of the highest incidences of leprosy, TB, and infant mortality, and one of the lowest literacy rates in India.

The work that MAITRI does is not romantic either. Identifying people with leprosy, cleaning and dressing ulcers in flesh damaged due to localized deadening of the nerves, identifying people with tuberculosis (TB), collecting and analyzing sputum samples, assisting undernourished TB patients, or prenatal mothers, or newborn babies, and treating injured, maimed, and sick animals that have nowhere else to go.

On a foggy winter morning where the sun didn’t show up at all, the mobile clinic team headed away from the hubbub around Bodhgaya where His Holiness the Dalai Lama had arrived. Down the highway towards the Delhi-Kolkata Trunk Road. Past poverty and the grime you get when construction has arrived, incomplete, but with few of the benefits. The intersection with the Trunk Road is rubbish-filled, noisy, scattered with long-distance trucks and generally ugly.

His Holiness had come to teach on the Four Noble Truths. And we all know the first one is the Truth of Suffering. Here it is impossible to miss. His Holiness’ teachings were particularly responding to an Indian request, and he highlighted again and again how it is the Indian tradition that the Tibetans inherited and preserved, and that is now returning to its homeland. One of those traditions is cherishing others, based on critical analysis of its benefits.

Looking around Bodhgaya and surrounding districts at the poverty and ignorance, how could you possibly think you could make any impact? Yet these are the sentient beings Buddhists have pledged to bring to enlightenment, that Christians go to serve following the example of Jesus, that the left side of politics works to uplift, that the right side of politics promises to benefit through a ‘trickle down’ economy. They are the global neighbors with whom we have responsibility to share the riches of the world fairly. Indeed, these are the beings that might have been our direct neighbors if our karma had been very slightly different.

Is trying to help simply a futile gesture? Some token feel-good exercise? It is easy to think this way. Yet we all know of how special it was to receive help when we needed it. Not a thousand other people, not five desperately needy, not a stranger over there. Us. You. Me. When someone had stopped to help us when we thought nobody would. That individual out of so many who happens to be feeling, thinking, wishing to be free of this particular suffering. To be helped, how wonderful! What relief!

Perhaps this is what pushes MAITRI staff to work so hard, understanding that some of these individuals can be helped and MAITRI can do it.

The 16 Guidelines for Life also come to mind when I see MAITRI workers in action.

Humility—the founding and ongoing recognition that only the government can possibly reach every citizen, therefore a charity that works in partnership with the government will be more effective to render assistance to those who fall through the cracks. MAITRI is the only organization authorized by the Government of Bihar to assist the District Leprosy Office in Gaya District.

Patience—not just with everything that Bihar throws at you, but also with those patients who are slow to understand the role they must play in their own healing.

Contentment—perhaps it is more of an acceptance, but everyone’s ability to put up with the poorer equipment, the less than comfortable surroundings, the outbursts of barking from the rescued dogs, the overwhelming numbers of patients when it is supposed to be a regular clinic day.

Kindness—it is written through everything. The staff and in-patients mix regularly in formal situations (at check ups, dispensing medicines, ulcer dressing) as well as around the campus. Those hospitalized can spend weeks or months here slowly gaining the strength to return home and thus become part of the MAITRI family. Pre- and post-natal mothers who come for checks can be regular visitors over many years with different births.

Generosity—MAITRI not only gives outright (medicines, blankets, supplements for TB patients, sandals for leprosy patients, medical costs for reconstructive surgery, and so on) but also through encouraging reciprocal giving. The Village Schools program was set up to encourage the local community to invest in the education of its children by committing to building and maintaining the school buildings and ensuring boys AND girls attended. Those coming from a long way to receive help are given half their travel costs.

Respect—for those who are the lowest of the low. For those with leprosy, a disease that still attracts social stigma, or mothers with a newborn girl where the father is afraid of another dowry. For a wife with TB whose husband hadn’t given her permission to see a doctor. For a dog paralyzed in an accident who would not be looked after anywhere else.

Loyalty and total commitment to those individuals that need help and who need it now. Many times I have seen staff work well past lunch, dinner, or knock off time to assist a person or animal needing help. They are also very loyal to their communities and the networks MAITRI has developed over the years. It is these networks that are vital in the TB drug distribution process. They also help in identifying potential cases, people who might otherwise miss out on treatment altogether.

MAITRI’s Director, Adriana Ferranti, had a series of clear goals at the beginning. Most of them have already been achieved, such as the campus buildings and the afforestation of the land. The Aspiration to complete the tasks and do more is always there, even though the money is always tight. “In the Service of others” was and is MAITRI’s modus operandi.

One cannot forget these two guidelines: Perseverance and Courage. No examples are required.

Whenever I try to summarise what MAITRI does, it is invariably long-winded and somehow insufficient. How does it manage to help those who really don’t have the karma to be helped? Like that day when a new referral was found to be positive for TB. Imagine being that person who is now embraced by an organization that would move mountains to ensure you get the medical help that you need. So many don’t get noticed, don’t get checked, and don’t get helped through the long process to health. Not many people have the karma to save someone’s life. MAITRI does this week in week out, and has done so for nearly thirty years. Meanwhile Kyabje Thubten Zopa Rinpoche’s voice chants mantras and sutras over the loudspeaker system heard by all.

Looking at MAITRI like this makes it sound like everything and everyone is working perfectly. This is samsara, and this is Bihar. The individuals being helped are very low in society’s pecking order. There is corruption throughout society, there is neglect and indifference. Services are poor, the climate is harsh, the environment suffers from the weight of humanity. MAITRI itself is hobbled by court cases fighting to recoup losses from some of these social ills. Its buildings need repair, there isn’t enough staff, and those who are here are prone to the usual failings. There is never enough time or money. There are always more sick, ill, or vulnerable. It is an impossible job. Yet here MAITRI still remains, in the service of others with compassion and care.

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For more information about MAITRI Charitable Trust, visit their website:
http://www.maitri-bodhgaya.org/

For more information about the 16 Guidelines for a Happy Life, visit the website:
http://www.16guidelines.org/

In June 2017 FPMT in Australia (FPMTA) and Chag Tong Chen Tong Tibetan Buddhist Centre (CTCT) organized 100,000 tsog offerings to Guru Rinpoche, also known as a “Guru bumtsog.” Participants from all over Australia took part in the powerful and joyous multi-day event, which was blessed by a video address from Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Here, Stephanie Brennan, FPMTA National Education/Tour Coordinator, shares a personal account of the Guru bumtsog, which took place during Saka Dawa in Hobart, Tasmania.  

FPMT in Australia decided in December 2016 to organize a national 100,000 tsog offerings to Guru Rinpoche puja, inspired by the advice of FPMT spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche. We wanted to connect strongly to Rinpoche and to offer the puja for the long lives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Rinpoche. We also wished to dedicate the puja for world peace.

This was the first time that this event would be offered in our region. Chag Tong Chen Tong Tibetan Buddhist Centre in Hobart generously co-hosted the event. Tasmania, with its pure air, World Heritage wildernesses, and mountains, and Hobart, with its award-winning restaurants, organic produce, and heritage areas, are very popular tourist destinations.

Hobart hosts an active community of artists and designers who are inspired by Tasmania’s natural environment, and Kickstart Arts, an organization dedicated to community art, partnered with FPMTA and CTCT to serve as the event venue.

A large geodesic white dome was erected in the garden next to where CTCT’s three-meters [ten-feet] high golden Shakyamuni Buddha statue was placed. The golden Buddha formed the focus of the event—a place where we offered silken robes, gold-leaf, and incense. Every evening as darkness fell, we circumambulated while chanting and made the sur offering around a fierce fire. Early each morning, we started by offering tea lights to the large stupa set up in the middle of the dome, the flickering flames lighting our faces in the shadows before the sun rose.

Inside the venue, the gompa was resplendent—luminous with Kickstart’s theatrical lighting, which shone on the rich brocades, thangkas, silk buntings, khatas, and holy images that covered the walls and ceiling, and illuminated tables of beautiful tsog offerings and long lines of water bowl, light, incense, food, and flower offerings.

At the front of the room was a high throne covered in beautiful brocades, holding images of His Holiness and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. There were beautiful crystal bowls overflowing with gold-covered chocolates and mandala offerings on silken cushions. The stage was filled with exquisite tsog—wrapped in brilliant ribbons and coverings—and abundant with Guru Rinpoche incense from Kopan Monastery, crystals, gold-leafed tsatsas, and beautiful objects. Vase upon vase of colorful flowers were lined up in front.

Internationally renowned artist Martin Walker had installed an exhibition of gilded repousse holy images at the venue called Sacred Art for Global Peace. Kickstart Arts’s exhibition room was filled with his wondrous gilded Tibetan Buddhist deities mounted on rich brocades. The image of Prajnaparamita, the Perfection of Transcendent Wisdom, gleamed with fine gold-leaf, as well as green, yellow, white, and red gold-leaf. Her robes were trimmed with purple-leaf (a resin-coated silver-leaf) and also with palladium-leaf; her crown was mounted with Swarovski crystals. A palpable sense of presence emanated from the exhibition room.

We started the puja on Saka Dawa evening, Friday, June 9. More than 160 people, including families with children, crammed into the gompa to listen to special guests—such as the Speaker of the Tasmanian Parliament, the Honorable Elise Archer, and Dr. Sonam Thakchoe, a Tibetan representative and scholar—open the puja. We commenced by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land, the Mouheneenner people, and all Aboriginal elders past, present, and future. The Hon. Elise Archer made the first offering of the puja, presenting a delicate gold and white posy of flowers to the throne.

After chai and cake were served, the first puja session began. With eighteen Sangha present from all over Australia, the gompa was filled with maroon and saffron robes. Sitting in front were two geshes—Geshe Tenzin Zopa, who led the puja, and Geshe Phuntsok Tsultrim, the resident geshe at Chenrezig Institute, Queensland. Also in front was Lama Jimay from Tasmania, who ably assisted with the hook drum.

In the first session, we started by chanting the full verses of the “Prayer to Guru Rinpoche That Spontaneously Fulfills All Wishes” to a poignant and melodic tune. This was followed by the tsog offering prayer and Guru Rinpoche mantra, which were repeated many times. These repetitions were accompanied by cymbals and drums with a very stirring beat. As the pace of these repetitions was fast, it took a little while for everyone to get their head around the Tibetan syllables, but soon everyone settled into a kind of rhythm, with Geshe Tenzin Zopa’s clear voice leading us forward.

Sangha members played the ritual instruments, and the gompa became warm and energized. As I looked at the large thangka of Guru Rinpoche above the tsog offerings, it felt to me that evoking the spirit of Guru Rinpoche and knowing that this puja had been blessed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche beforehand, particularly to clear obstacles, made everything in the gompa seem timeless, vivid, and very clear.

It had taken over six months of preparation to realize the Guru bumtsog. Students, directors, previous directors, spiritual program coordinators, and Sangha from most of Australia’s twenty or so centers, projects, and services attended the event. CTCT had conjured a large team of volunteers to host the many Sangha, prepare the delicious food, look after people, work in the shop, help erect the dome, and install the three-meter golden Buddha statue. We were helped by volunteers from other centers such as Buddha House’s director and spiritual program coordinator, who came early from Adelaide to help wrap the tsog.

There were parking attendant helpers, who braved the cold, 5:30-a.m. air, and an usher team, who were suddenly swamped by more than 160 enthusiastic participants—only eighty people pre-registered, but our panic quickly turned to “Welcome! Here is your goody bag” joy. (And there were gold-leaf tsatsa makers in the months leading up to the event!) Co-organizer Ven. Lindy Mailhot, director of CTCT, and FPMT in Australia wanted everyone to feel welcomed, cared for, and nourished by the puja as well as the food, no matter what obstacles arose. But more than anything, we wished to please the mind of our precious guru.

Geshe Tenzin Zopa led the gompa set-up team in the week before the event, directing with precision, while tirelessly climbing ladders, putting up silk bunting, and hanging holy images, khatas, and thangkas, as well as working with Dan Mailhot (nicknamed the “Golden Buddha Man” for his work in gilding the Buddha) to transport, welcome, and decorate the golden Buddha statue in the garden.

Because the puja was also dedicated to world peace in a time when so much war, terror, famine, and suffering are apparent, this event captured the imagination of those at Kickstart Arts and the Hobart community, as well as participants and sponsors. The Israeli FPMT group who sponsored tsog made their dedication to the overcoming of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They sent a web link to a moving meeting between Israelis and Palestinians whose families had been killed in the conflict and yet who wished only for peace.

At the food tables and tents in the garden hung with prayer flags, in the gompa, and in the sacred art exhibition, an atmosphere of togetherness and warmth encircled everyone. We started at 6 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, June 10-11, with light offerings and chanting OM MANI PADME HUM, slowly circumambulating the golden Buddha statue to enter the white dome, the Sangha going first, holding their warm zens around themselves in the cold winter morning.

We also offered gold-leaf to the golden Buddha statue, with the two geshes and Sangha leading us all out to the garden. Artist Martin Walker assisted participants, including many children, with offering gold-leaf to the Buddha’s feet. Sponsors waited in line for two hours for their chance to offer gold-leaf to the huge, beaming, golden Buddha.

As registrar for the event, I received emails from the many sponsors, and in the week leading up to the puja, sponsorships quadrupled. By Saka Dawa, I was seriously overwhelmed, with sponsorships arriving from all over the world—India, Malaysia, Israel, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand. The dedications were beautiful, sometimes heart-wrenching, with a clear abiding love of His Holiness and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. To achieve world peace and inner peace was a constant theme.

Suddenly we received incredible news: Lama Zopa Rinpoche had recorded a video, personally addressing puja participants, and Ven. Holly Ansett was sending it through. Ven. Lindy and I broke down. To hear that Rinpoche had done this for us in Australia, knowing how unbelievably busy he is—words could not describe the feelings of being cared for by him, of the deep connection being made between all of us involved with the puja and the person most precious in our lives, Lama Zopa Rinpoche. It made us weep.

We held five puja sessions per day of Guru Rinpoche prayers. Ven. Lindy and I sat behind our chant leader, Geshe Tenzin Zopa, and were subsumed by the waves of the Guru Rinpoche mantra and tsog prayers reverberating in the gompa and the swift rhythm of the cymbals and drums, which created a trance-like beat. Even with my eyes closed, I could see the details of Guru Rinpoche’s image—present in the gompa through the large thangka and also the exquisite Bertrand Cayla painting on the front of the prayer books we had printed.

Even with a failing voice, Geshe Tenzin Zopa continued to lead us as we entered the world of Guru Rinpoche. Sangha swayed, many with eyes closed; students called out the fast-beating prayers; and the cymbals and drums rattled and shook the gompa. Inside was warmth and light, radiant light. An intense white brightness emanated from the front of the gompa, the silken tsog ribbons and faces of the delicately painted thangka images glittered and shone beneath it. It was hard not to feel a strong presence.

As we entered our breaks, we came out into a different world, a present and conventionally real world of lunch: warm delicious food and cool wind on our cheeks that made the prayer flags flutter. After lunch, we darkened the gompa to play Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s two videos on a huge screen. The first ten-minute video thanked everyone there for coming to Tasmania to do the Guru bumtsog. Rinpoche, in his characteristic style gave “100,000 thanks” to all of us for coming and for those sponsoring the event and spoke of the incredible good it was doing. He thanked all the geshes. He went into detail of how he remembered Ven. Lindy’s mother making him a head warmer. (That was over thirty-five years ago!)

In the next video, Rinpoche gave a wonderful teaching about Guru Rinpoche and how he arrived in Tibet—his journey there as well as his power in clearing obstacles. It was as if Rinpoche was in the gompa with us, and in fact he was. His spirit and intention was. Rinpoche was with us for the Guru bumtsog, and there was no doubt, listening to these teachings made specifically for us, that what we were doing was of enormous benefit.

Practitioners and volunteers worked beyond their tiredness until the final session. As Geshe Zopa led us in the final prayers and extensive dedications, there was a quiet power that seemed to hum in between the words of the prayers. The gompa was full of faces that were calm and happy, swaying with shining eyes.

FPMT in Australia and CTCT gave out many presents of thanks to the myriad volunteers and hosts who contributed so much. Greatest thanks were reserved for Geshe Tenzin Zopa, who advised and supported Ven. Lindy and myself in all aspects of the event, selflessly giving his time. At the time of thanking him publicly, words choked in my throat; words were not enough.

At the end of the event, students embraced one another, many in tears, as this had been an event where big things had happened internally and also in some other world—of this we somehow felt sure. Guru Rinpoche would help overcome the obstacles at the FPMT centers and in our personal lives—this was Rinpoche’s advice.

This Guru bumtsog was unlike any other puja I had attended. I struggled to find the words to express the power I had connected to. I just kept seeing Guru Rinpoche’s face and robes so clearly in my mind and hearing the sound of his swishing silk and musical instruments. Ven. Lindy and many others reported similar experiences during and after the event.

There was a great love that we had connected to through Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Guru Rinpoche. It manifested in the feelings at the end of the puja in that lit hall where all spontaneously embraced each other and cried. We felt enfolded in the arms of the FPMT family, and we had our hearts opened by our spiritual father, Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

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Visit FPMT Australia National Office website for more information on the Guru bumtsog event.

By Ven. Tenzin Gache

His Holiness the Dalai Lama often comments that as Buddhists, our distinctive practice is non-violence, and our distinctive view is dependent origination. His Holiness’s comments echo a common strand in the Buddhist tradition: Lama Tsongkhapa claimed that there was no teaching of the Buddha more profound than dependent origination, and Nagarjuna began most of his works by praising the “one who taught dependent origination.” The Buddha himself recounted that on the night of his enlightenment, he awoke to the profound nature of the twelve links of dependent origination, clearly seeing how beings trap themselves in an endless cycle of self-perpetuating confusion and misery.¹ The Buddha went on to claim that nobody could understand his teaching without understanding the nature of these twelve links.²

Yet for many Dharma practitioners, these twelve links remain an elusive subject, something difficult to penetrate and even more difficult to relate to one’s personal experience and daily practice. Until several years ago, I was also apt to relegate this topic to the “too hard” pile. But after extensive study and debate with my classmates, and helpful elucidation of difficult points through discussions with Gen Losang Gyatso (“LoGyam”)—a senior monk in my house group, Lhopa Khangtsen,³ at Sera Je Monastic University in South India—I took the subject into retreat for personal contemplation. Although only able to generate some very limited, beginner level insights, I did manage to glimpse how profoundly relevant the twelve links of dependent origination must be for our own psychological situation. I will attempt to share some of my meager understanding in the hope that others will take an interest in studying and contemplating this important but dense subject.

Generally speaking, Buddhist texts that speak of “dependent origination” mean one of three distinct things: 1) dependence upon causes and conditions, 2) dependence on parts, and 3) dependence on a labeling consciousness. The second connotation is central to the philosophy of the Svatantrika-Madhyamaka School, and the third is unique to the Prasangika-Madhyamaka School. Thus, the “distinctively Buddhist” view—the one shared by all Buddhists historically and worldwide—is related to the first connotation, dependence on causes and conditions. This kind of dependence again has two divisions: a) outer cause and effect, and b) inner cause and effect. Outer cause and effect—the arising of smoke from fire, sprouts from seeds—is certainly not a unique Buddhist tenet, so it is inner cause and effect that is so central to Buddhism. Inner cause and effect, or psychological/karmic cause and effect, is the manner in which our present thoughts and actions create our future experience—that is, the twelve links of dependent origination.

This unique Buddhist view avoids the two extremes of 1) believing that some external force, such as a creator god, determines our experiences of happiness and suffering, or 2) believing that human joys and miseries have no deeper meaning, being the mere byproducts of the aggregation and interaction of particles, whose behavior is governed by outer cause and effect. Buddhism breaks away from most modern philosophies in asserting that these outer causes—the matter that interacts with but does not create our minds—are conditions for our experiences of pleasure and pain, but that the root cause lies deeper. All of us wish to have happiness and avoid suffering, and in many cases we have a sincere wish to free others from suffering as well. But as long as we remain ignorant of the true causes of suffering, even the most well-intentioned strokes to eliminate it can have only a limited effect.

What, then, is the cause of suffering? Anyone familiar with the Buddha’s first teaching on the four noble truths will recall that the Buddha insisted that delusions, karmic actions, and craving are the true origin of suffering. But how, exactly, do these three factors create suffering? The clarification of this subtle causal process is the subject of the teaching on the twelve links, a teaching that is simply an expansion of the first two noble truths.

The primary source for Mahayana teachings on the twelve links is the Salistamba, or Rice Seedlings Sutra [translation by author]:

Venerable Bhikshus, whoever sees dependent and relative origination, sees the Dharma.
Whoever sees the Dharma, sees the Buddha.⁴
What is this dependent and relative origination of which I speak?
It is this: because this exists, that arises. Because this is born, that is born.

It is like this: through the condition of ignorance, compounding factors. From the condition of compounding factors, consciousness … name and form … the six sense spheres … contact … feeling … craving … grasping … existence … birth … aging and death. From the condition of aging and death, agony, wailing, suffering, unhappiness, and mental disturbance all arise. Like that, merely this enormous heap of suffering arises.

The manner in which the twelve links function and interact is not clear in sutras such as the one quoted above, and so different interpretations have arisen over the course of Buddhist history. Some interpret the links as unfolding in a single instant, while others see them as representing stages of life. While I think all of these interpretations are beneficial for contemplation, for the sake of simplicity, I will follow the Gelug interpretation, formulated by Tsongkhapa in texts such as The Golden Garland, Lamrim Chenmo, and Ocean of Reasoning, based primarily upon Asanga’s exposition in Compendium of Manifest Knowledge and to a lesser extent on Vasubandhu’s Explanation of the Sutra on Dependent Relativity. Tsongkhapa’s heart disciple Gyaltsab Je further clarified Asanga’s presentation in his commentary on Compendium. As a Sera Je monk, I will of course rely in part on Jetsun Chökyi Gyaltsen’s textbooks.⁵

According to Asanga, the progression of the first to the twelfth link, as described in the sutra above, is meant to give a general picture of cause and effect (I will explain how later on), but does not actually illustrate how the process unfolds for a particular action creating a particular result. Instead, a complete cycle of the twelve links unfolds as follows:

Ignorance (1) leads to compounding factors (strong karmic actions) (2), which make an imprint on consciousness (3). Then, craving (8) and grasping (9) ripen that imprint, which then resurfaces in conscious awareness at the time of death as existence (10). The substantial continuum of that mind becomes the first moment of the next rebirth, which is both name and form (4) and birth (11)—these two are simultaneous. From the second moment of that new birth, aging and death (12) begin. During subsequent stages of fetal development, six sense-spheres (5), contact (6), and feeling arise (7), consecutively, and aging and death continue.

Thus, (1), (2), (3), (8), (9), and (10) are the causes, and (4), (5), (6), (7), (11), and (12) are the results. Specifically, (1), (2), and (3) are the impelling causes that leave an imprint on the mind, and (8), (9), and (10) are the actualizing causes that ripen that imprint and lead to a new suffering rebirth. Although this process can appear confusing at first, through habituation we can start to see the logic involved. Also, the non-linear progression highlights that these are twelve links of interdependent origination: although it is possible to trace a particular pattern of cause and effect, all the links should be understood to be mutually reinforcing and interpenetrating. Ignorance causes karmic action, but the imprints of karmic action lead to more ignorance. In a single progression, craving leads eventually to feeling, but feeling itself becomes the main cause for more craving in the future (more on that later). The conceptual structure gives us a microscope to pick out patterns in our own psychology and make sense of what often can seem to be a chaotic, non-linear process.

All twelve of these links are instances of samsara, which is no more than our own body and mind, and the uncontrolled cycles these go through in this life and future lives. Samsara is not a place we cycle through, but the cycle of moving through these twelve links. As the great Indian scholar Kamalashila explained in his Commentary to the Rice Seedling Sutra, “For those confused regarding the process of entering into and reversing samsara, and so that they may be free … the Buddha explained dependent origination.”⁶ Keeping in mind the general order laid out above, let us now look in more detail at each of the twelve links.

Stage I: Impelling Causes (Links 1, 2, and 3)

1. Ignorance

Generally, any mind that is confused in regards to the object it apprehends is accompanied by the mental factor of “ignorance.” For example, when we see double, the eye consciousness is mixed with ignorance, and when we wrongly believe that somebody’s friendly advice was meant as a criticism, ignorance is involved. Buddhist practice ultimately seeks to free us of all manifestations of ignorance, but with limited time and energy, we need to identify the most important ignorance that is leading us repeatedly to cause suffering to ourselves and others. Even regarding this “first-stage ignorance,” different Buddhist scholars identify it slightly differently: for Asanga, it is like the darkness that leads to misperception, thereby not being a wrong apprehension but rather a lack of apprehension. Dharmakirti insists instead that it is a very specific wrong apprehension, namely the view that there is a substantial, self-sufficient “me” that exists over and above the aggregates of body and mind, similar to there being some kind of substantial entity called “New York” that exists over and above the buildings and people. Chandrakirti adds that it is not only this view of self, but the view of all phenomena possessing some intrinsic, findable nature in this way. The Theravada tradition takes a practical approach, identifying “first-stage ignorance” as misapprehension of the four noble truths: any view of reality that does not recognize craving as the cause of suffering will lead to actions that perpetuate suffering.⁷ How can we make sense of these various presentations?

Although these authors choose to focus on one particular cause, all of them would agree that all of these causes are involved. We cannot isolate one mistake and toss it out; we have to recognize a vast and deeply entrenched network of misapprehensions that entangles our minds. When a government is riddled with corruption, the result will be ineffective governance and harmful foreign policies. But a campaign to end corruption cannot just fire one person and be done with it. We have to identify and meditate upon all the ways we misrepresent reality: we expect youthful bodies to stay fit and healthy forever, see toxic substances and relationships as sources of stable happiness, and relate to the environment that sustains us as a stockpile for consumption.

2. Compounding Factors (Strong Karmic Action)

Misconceptions naturally lead to poorly planned actions. Every action we do under the power of ignorance is a karmic formation, but some are naturally stronger than others. Those with enough force to impel a new rebirth are called impelling karmas, and that term is synonymous with compounding factors, the second link. Pabongka Rinpoche explains in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand that these are usually actions of body and speech—mere mental intentions rarely have the same level of force, though in certain cases they can.⁸ A good example of a negative karmic formation is killing somebody under the power of anger. A positive one would be taking a vow to refrain from killing. Until we directly perceive emptiness in meditative absorption, even our most positive actions will to some extent be tainted by wrong conceptions about the self, and thus will lead to rebirth in samsara, albeit a positive one. Each single action is a single impelling karma—two actions do not combine to create one life, though a second action may condition particulars about that life. I asked Gen LoGyam how this provision would work in regard to taking monastic vows—after all, isn’t this something that I perform over time, rather than just a “single action”? He explained that every time a practitioner remembers his or her intention not to harm others or follow attachment, that aspiration is itself a strong imprint that could impel an entire lifetime—so we may create many such imprints each day. Because the intention is to refrain from bodily harm, it becomes an action of body, thus according with Pabongka Rinpoche’s qualification.

The Tibetan word for “impel”—“phen”—can also mean “to throw” or “to shoot” an arrow. Asanga explains that each karma we create is like shooting an arrow straight up into the air. At some point in the future, it will strike down upon the bowman. Remembering that we have countless arrows hovering in the sky in wait for an opportunity to dive is a strong impetus to work out our past karma and limit its further creation.

3. Consciousness

Many years ago when I first read about the twelve links, I was confused as to how consciousness could be the result of karmic formation and ignorance. Is Buddhism claiming that there is no consciousness before that time? Isn’t ignorance itself a kind of consciousness? What I didn’t understand is that “consciousness” here does not refer to consciousness in a general sense, which itself is primordial, existing without beginning, just like matter and space. Rather “consciousness” refers here to a particular instance of consciousness that carries the imprints of karmic actions. Specifically, it is the substantial continuation of the very consciousness that created a karmic action. Gen LoGyam explained, “Imagine if you became furiously angry and killed another person. After completing the action, that anger and aggression would still be manifest in your system. That moment is the third link. After some time—maybe a few minutes or hours, maybe even a day—that energy would calm down, but would not disappear. Instead, it would become dormant in the recesses of your mind as you move on to other thoughts and activities. You may even forget about it, but it would not disappear.”

To understand the concept of “dormant mind,” think of some skill you have developed, perhaps driving a car. Although the knowledge of how to drive a car is strongly imprinted in your mind, you don’t have to consciously think about it twenty-four hours a day. But even if you don’t drive for ten years, when you again sit behind the wheel, that knowledge will become manifest again with little conscious effort. According to Buddhist philosophy, we have many—practically infinite—dormant mental states that reside in a non-manifest manner below our conscious awareness, and wait for a suitable trigger to cycle back up to the surface. Actions done with strong emotion and/or habituation leave strong imprints. These imprints wait for suitable conditions to ripen them and then impinge on our experience.

Stage II: Actualizing Causes (Links 8, 9, and 10)

8. Craving

Although ignorance is the root of cyclic existence, craving is the strong and direct cause that fuels the process. We all want to be happy and avoid suffering, and craving is the natural expression of that dual wish. Twenty-four hours a day—even in dreams—a continuous stream of thoughts and feelings bubbles into our consciousness. These thoughts and feelings fall into link 7, as I will discuss later. The process is normally too subtle for us to recognize, but the thoughts and feelings that arise are imprints of past thoughts and feelings, lying dormant in the mind through the process outlined above in links 2 and 3. Failing to recognize these experiences as being the manifestation of our own mind, we imagine the causes to be present in our immediate circumstances, when in actuality these circumstances are only the trigger for a deeper inner process. At a preconscious level, we constantly engage in habitual thinking that projects qualities onto external objects, labeling them as the cause of happiness or the cause of suffering. We then wish to obtain or hold onto those objects that seem to cause pleasure and separate from or destroy those that seem to cause pain. As such, it is not wanting pleasure and wanting to avoid pain that is in itself the problem, but rather the wrong thoughts that exaggerate the qualities of objects. However, manipulated by ignorance in this way, desire becomes a misguided force, and takes us for ride after ride.

While feeling (7) is like an itch that we can’t even identify, much less scratch, craving is the constant thought that responds to that feeling, thinking, “I’d like to have this, go there, do that.” Not realizing that we are trying to escape a feeling in our own mind, we compulsively engage in new actions, expecting the outer experience to satisfy us. But by the time we get where we intend to go, we have already moved on to thinking about something else, and fail to recognize that the original itch did not disappear but has merely been replaced by another “itch,” the imprint of another past action.

Craving is of three kinds:

1) Craving for pleasure. This is a response to a pleasant sensation, wishing to repeat or prolong that sensation. For example, we may recall eating a particular flavor of ice cream and wish to repeat that experience.

2) Craving for annihilation. This is not a suicidal thought, but rather a thought that responds to a suffering sensation by wishing to avoid it or destroy it. We may recall a bad experience and try to distract ourselves in something enjoyable.

3) Craving for existence. This is a response to the neutral, peaceful sensation of deep meditative concentration, wishing to abide in that sensation perpetually. Gyalwa Gendun Drup, the First Dalai Lama, explains that this is called “craving for existence” in order to dispel the view that the higher realms of meditative absorption are true liberation—they are still within samsaric existence.⁹

Like scratching an itch, all of these responses only serve to intensify the inner feeling and strengthen the force of past imprints, leading us to engage again in strong karmic actions (2) and thereby thicken ignorance. Tsongkhapa explains in the Lamrim Chenmo that without ignorance, there would be no craving response even if feeling (7) did arise.¹⁰ Again we can see how links 1 and 8 mutually reinforce one another.

When feelings arise, the best response would be to carefully observe the nature of the mind and how it responds to those feelings. Habituation to craving makes that simple response extremely difficult, and without realizing, we engage in one action after another, a pattern that will naturally continue at death if we do not retrain the mind.

The First Dalai Lama provides a strong warning about the dangers of craving:

It sweeps us into the torrent of existence, so difficult to cross
And spurred on by violent karmic winds
It churns with the great waves of birth, old age, sickness, and death.
Save me from the terrifying river of desire!

9. Grasping

The ninth link is merely an intensification of the eighth link, craving, at the time of death. When it becomes apparent that the things that we relied on to support our sense of self—family and friends, wealth and possessions, even our body—will no longer support us, we are left with the feelings with which we have struggled for so long. If our habitual reaction has been to cling to pleasurable feelings and try to avoid uncomfortable ones, that reaction will naturally continue here.

Left with only the inner feeling, this intensified craving response will trigger the ripening of a dormant experience.

10. Existence

The name “existence” here means “samsaric existence” and is a case of the name of the result being given to the cause. This is the last moment of gross consciousness in a lifetime, and becomes the substantial cause for the first moment of consciousness in the next samsaric life. Rather than passing into nirvana, we continue in samsaric existence, so the last experience of our life is called “continued existence” rather than “the end.”

Existence (10) is synonymous with actualizing karma, and is actually the substantial continuity of the impelling karma, link 2, that became link 3 and then passed into dormancy. Remember how Gen LoGyam said this strong mental energy would never disappear? At this point, it reemerges in conscious awareness. Gen went so far to say that if we killed a particular person, the memory of that action, and of that person’s face, will flood our consciousness at the time of death, as though we are reliving the experience. That anger and aggression will then be the powerful imprint that carries us into the next life and conditions our future experiences.

Of course, we may not have created such a heavy imprint in this life, and in that case, an imprint from a karmic action in a past life may also arise. What is certain is that only one imprint will arise—other strong imprints may act as supports, but one particular one will be dominant and become the actualizing karma that directly leads to the next life, like an arrow falling from the sky that has met its mark.

As sense experience fades away, this strong final experience gets “locked in” as our last conscious thought in this life. After that, the mind enters into a subtle, neutral state, and unless a practitioner has actualized the completion stage of highest yoga tantra, he or she will be unable to engage in further practices.

Stage III: Results

4. Name and Form and 11. Birth

Although these two links are listed separately, in the process of a single round of cause and effect, they both occur simultaneously, at the moment of conception in a new life. “Name and form” refer to the mind and body, the aggregates that make up a person. The use of this terminology predates the Buddha, who simply adopted it. Mind is given the label “name” because it engages objects through the force of discriminating “this is this, that is that.”¹¹ “Birth” is not birth from the womb but conception, which for Buddhism is the first moment of a new life. The mind carried into this birth is a continuation of the mind that became dormant at link 3 and manifested again at link 10. Already at conception, our mind, body, and even our environment are charged with the contaminated energy imprinted by our past actions. As Asanga explains in Compendium, “what is the truth of suffering? Know it as the beings who are born, and the world into which they are born.”¹²

12. Aging and Death

Aging does not simply mean getting gray hair and wrinkles, but refers to the process of constant change that begins at the very moment of conception. Thus, this link begins right away. But because death can occur at any time, even before manifest aging sets in, these two stages are grouped together.

5. Six Sense Spheres and 6. Contact

Name and form (4) lasts until the fetus begins to develop sense organs, at which time link 5 begins. When the sense organs begin to function, and there is the contact of objects, sense organs, and sense consciousness, link 6 begins. We can see the emphasis placed here on the development of conditions that will lead to creating karma once again. We can also see that in this system, a baby in the womb is not a “blank slate,” but is already completing a process that has been set in motion by mistaken views and habitual craving.

7. Feeling

At contact (6), a baby in the womb could already experience feelings of pleasure and pain, but had not yet begun to distinguish certain external objects as the cause of pleasure and pain. When inner thoughts—habituated by karmic imprints from the past existence—reawaken to that process, we enter feeling (7), which lasts until death (unless somebody’s mental faculties deteriorate such that again they cannot distinguish the causes of pleasure and pain). At this point, a person begins to react habitually to feeling with the three kinds of craving—conditioned by ignorance—and again create strong karmic actions. The previous cycle has completed, and a new one begins.

After describing the twelve links individually, the Rice Seedling Sutra continues:

From the condition of aging and death, agony, wailing, suffering, unhappiness, and mental disturbance all arise. Like that, merely this enormous heap of suffering arises.

The teaching of the twelve links does not end with aging and death, but continues on with agony (bodily suffering), wailing (verbal suffering), and three forms of mental suffering. The purpose of this last section is to illustrate the normal progression that life takes, such that we may develop a wish to be free of this uncontrolled process of rebirth. The phrase “merely this enormous heap of suffering” indicates that the process does not involve a substantial self, but is a natural process of cause and effect. The reason this last result is not counted as a thirteenth link is that it does not necessarily follow as a result of aging and death: a pure Dharma practitioner can die peacefully and without regrets.

The question remains: why, if the causal order moves from steps 1-3, then 8-9, then 4-7, did the Buddha originally teach it in the order he did? I believe he did so in order to illustrate the crucial causal nexus of links 7 and 8, feeling and craving. Although in a single set of cause and effect, craving comes first, the feelings we currently experience as the result of countless past cycles are the main cause for the craving that will cause a new cycle. And disentangling this set of cause and effect is decisive in understanding how we create our own suffering. Within the foundational Buddhist practice of the four close placements of mindfulness, the second, mindfulness of feelings, is specifically a means of recognizing the truth of the origin of suffering by closely observing the way feeling fuels the craving that creates future suffering.

Among the five aggregates that constitute a person—form, feeling, discrimination, compounding factors, and consciousness—the first is the body, the last is the main minds, and the fourth includes all mental factors other than feeling and perception. Why, then, are these two singled out? Gen LoGyam explains that it is because they are the two most important in creating samsara. Our attachment to pleasurable feelings, and aversion to unpleasant ones, is the motivating factor in all karmic actions. Discrimination includes our beliefs about the nature of reality, and these determine which actions we believe will maximize pleasure and minimize pain.

Although feeling here includes both sensual and mental sensations, I think that for human beings, subtle mental sensations beyond conscious awareness are often the primary motivating factor in our actions. We are intensely social animals, and relatively few of our actions are directly related to achieving sensual gratification. Much more of our mental energy is focused on how we might like others to perceive us, or spending time with people or in places that we enjoy. As such, what we consider worth pursuing is constructed more by subtle concepts than by biological instinct. So, the feelings most relevant to what we crave are likewise subtle ones. Usually we aren’t even fully aware of our own motivation for actions. A preliminary step towards identifying the relation between this seventh link of feeling, and the eighth of craving, is to slow down and develop sufficient concentration to observe this subtle interplay.

As we first learn to meditate, the uprush of unprocessed feelings can seem like a clogged pipe. But with patience we can learn to identify individual sensations, and may even be able to trace their origin to specific events in our past that have remained unresolved in subliminal levels of the mind. In doing so, we begin to recognize the power of karmic imprints to remain and later influence behavior and experience, and we can apply skillful methods to disarm these dormant—but not inert—imprints, which left unattended can eventually ripen strongly enough to impel entire uncontrolled rebirths. Highly advanced practitioners with superb concentration will eventually move beyond the present lifetime, and trace the progression of cause and effect over multiple lives, much like the Buddha did on the night of his enlightenment. But until we are able to do so, we can contemplate the teaching on the twelve links and begin to gain an intellectual understanding of the process.

Such an understanding itself leaves a strong imprint to eventually gain direct experience and, ultimately, liberation from the process altogether. Even if we cannot gain such profound insight right away, we can learn to be careful of our actions by being watchful of our motivation, paying especially close attention to the way that habitual, unskillful responses to feeling lead to craving and then to unskillful, ultimately self-destructive actions. We can also rejoice in knowing the positive results we can create simply by choosing to abstain from habitual impulses.

What is more amazing than this,
And what is more excellent than this?
By praising you in this way,
It becomes a praise! Otherwise not.

-Tsongkhapa, Praise to the Buddha for His Teaching of Dependent Origination

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Ven. Tenzin Gache (Brian Roiter) is an American monk living at Sera International Mahayana Institute (IMI) House in Bylakuppe, India, and studying at Sera Je Monastic University.

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1. See Samyutta Nikaya, 12:65; II 104-7.

2. See, for example, Majjhima Nikaya, 28; I 190-191.

3. Like all the monks of Lhopa Khangtsen, Gen LoGyam was a student of Choden Rinpoche. Gen has now completed three of the six years of advanced study to qualify for the degree of Lharampa Geshe. During these three years, Gen achieved the top score in all three monasteries of Sera, Drepung, and Ganden.

4. In his Ocean of Reasoning, Tsongkhapa explains that to “see the Dharma” means to understand the four noble truths. The sutra itself explains that to “see the Buddha” means to become Buddha.

5. Jetsun Chökyi Gyaltsen, the fifth abbot of Sera Je, lived in the fifteenth century. His masterful pedagogical clarifications of the classic Gelug texts are still the main texts used both at Sera Je and Ganden Jangtse monasteries today.

6. Quoted in Jetsun Chökyi Gyaltsen’s General Meaning of Dependent Origination (Taiwan Edition), p. 324.

7. Thanissaro Bhikkhu explains, “‘Ignorance’ in the context of dependent co-arising doesn’t mean a general delusion or lack of information. It means not viewing experience in terms of the four noble truths. Any other framework for viewing experience, no matter how sophisticated, would qualify as ignorance.” From Right Mindfulness, Valley Center, CA: Metta Forest Monastery, 2012, p. 54.

8. Lam rim rnam grol lag bcangs, Sera Me edition, p. 389

9. Gyalwa dge ‘dun sgrub, mdzod thar lam gsal byed. Bylakuppe: Sera Me Library, 2013, Vol. II, p. 3.

10. Byang chub kyi lam rim chen mo, Taiwan edition, p. 251.

11. Tsongkhapa, rtsa she tik chen, Drepung Gomang Library edition, p. 401.

12. Quoted in Jetsun Chökyi Gyaltsen, skabs dang po’i spyi don, p. 221.

Ven. Thubten Chodron is a celebrated American Buddhist teacher, scholar, author, and leader who has published many popular books explaining the Dharma, including a 2013 work co-authored with His Holiness the Dalai Lama called Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions. She has continued to work with His Holiness, and the most recent product of their collaboration is Approaching the Buddhist Path, released in August 2017 by Wisdom Publications. This book is the first in a new series—The Library of Wisdom and Compassion—that will constitute the main English-language Dharma teachings of His Holiness, intended to explain the path to enlightenment in a way suited to modern-educated people.

Former Mandala associate editor Donna Lynn Brown spoke with Ven. Chodron in June 2017 about the new series and the intentions of His Holiness.

Mandala: Please tell us about the new book, Approaching the Buddhist Path.

Ven. Thubten Chodron: This is part of a series I am now doing called The Library of Wisdom and Compassion, in collaboration with His Holiness. It has a very specific purpose. Our tradition has many lamrim books as well as translations of very difficult Tibetan and Sanskrit philosophical works, but we don’t have anything that makes the connection between them. Yet His Holiness wants us to learn the philosophy that is embedded in lamrim. So we need something to bridge the gap. That’s what this series will do. It explains, in easy-to-understand English, philosophical topics and how they fit with the lamrim. Without such a bridge, people can miss out on our very rich philosophical tradition because they find it too difficult. This series also tries to clarify a lot of Dharma questions that Westerners have that Tibetans don’t usually ask. I’ve had several interviews with His Holiness, and he answered these questions in his own unique way.

Another challenge non-Tibetans have with the lamrim is that—as His Holiness explains—it was written for people who are already Buddhists. Lamrim texts don’t talk about why rebirth makes sense; they assume you already believe this. And the guru is Buddha? People say, “I just came to learn to meditate! What’s that all about?” So in this new series we are re-ordering some topics and approaching some of them in a different way. Regarding, for example, how to relate to a spiritual mentor, His Holiness explains that in depth for a modern audience. If people start out reading Pabongka Rinpoche’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, they don’t know that he was teaching Tibetans who were about to take highest yoga tantra initiations. That’s not who walks into Dharma centers! People need preparatory material. In the West, what does His Holiness usually teach? Love, compassion, and secular ethics for everyone. For Westerners who are interested in the Buddha’s teachings, he starts out with the Buddhist worldview: the nature of the mind, the two truths—conventional and ultimate—the four noble truths, and the possibility of being free from the afflictions.

Understanding these topics, people will then understand something about the basis, path, and result and will see how the lamrim meditations fit in. This project takes on the task of explaining the whole path, in some depth, to people who have a modern education. This series is not limited to Westerners. His Holiness says it’s also for young Tibetans as well as Chinese, Vietnamese, and other Asian students.

I can see that this is a significant project for making the teachings of Buddhism more accessible and better understood. Can you describe what’s in the initial volumes?

Approaching the Buddhist Path is the first volume in the series. It lays the groundwork. It talks about the history of Buddhism, the Buddhist worldview, Buddhist canons and important texts, emotions, Buddhism and science, compassion, tools for the path, helping others, and so on. And it contains His Holiness’s reflections on his approach to life and personal practice as a kind of inspiration.

The second volume, The Foundation of Buddhist Practice, is now also with Wisdom Publications. It starts out with the four seals, the criteria that make a teaching “Buddhist.” It goes on to talk about gaining non-deceptive knowledge—how we know evident and obscure phenomena. In this way we’ll understand what is knowable through our senses and what initially requires reasoning to understand. In Buddhism, we don’t rely blindly on scripture, we test things out. The second volume also discusses how we go from having a wrong view to a right view. Then it talks about the different kinds of phenomena. There are chapters on the qualities of different types of spiritual mentors, how to rely on our spiritual mentors, and how to become a qualified disciple. People need to learn about this when they start out in Buddhism. We present how to structure a meditation session, and then we talk about precious human life, death and impermanence, and the lower realms, but it’s all from His Holiness’s perspective. He doesn’t describe the eight cold hells, and so on. He talks about how we are to think about these different realms. He’s such an amazing teacher because he can really tune in to his audience. We talk about the death meditation, for example, and how that helps us overcome attachment to the happiness of this life, how it helps us set priorities and be aware of what is meaningful in our lives. Really practical material. Then we come back to talking about the nature of mind and rebirth, and how we can establish rebirth using reasoning. Then there are three big chapters about karma.

Standard lamrim texts present refuge before karma, but Westerners aren’t ready to take refuge yet. To hear about the qualities of the Buddha at that point is too much for them. What people really want to know about after this introductory material is karma. What is it? How does it work? There is a lot about karma here, including material from the abhidharma, which enlarges our understanding of karma—individual and collective karma, gloomy and bright karma, and so forth. And then volume two talks about why liberation is possible and what buddha nature is. Those topics naturally follow because, having heard about karma, we want to know: can we be liberated from polluted karma? The material on buddha nature is taken from the Uttaratantra Shastra and from a text by the Seventh Dalai Lama. His Holiness went through the latter text in one of our interviews, relating buddha nature to the three turnings of the Dharma wheel and showing how the full explanation of buddha nature is found in highest yoga tantra.

So that is the second volume. The third talks about whether there is a self, the four noble truths, and it especially goes into depth about the first and second noble truths. So it explains what “duhkha” is. We use the Sanskrit word “duhkha” instead of the usual term “suffering” because “suffering” gives completely the wrong idea. Duhkha is more like “unsatisfactory circumstances.”  What are those and what causes them? What is our situation here in samsara? If people don’t understand this, they’ll never aspire to gain liberation. Then we go into the different kinds of afflictions and how they work. This is followed by the twelve links—how we enter samsara—and the reversal of the twelve links—how we get out of samsara. Then there is discussion on what nirvana is. What are we aiming for? Is nirvana a state of mind? Is it emptiness?

The fourth volume begins with refuge. Having previously thought about the faults of samsara and benefits of nirvana, people now seek guidance on how to attain liberation and awakening. The qualities of the Three Jewels will now make more sense. The three higher trainings follow; they are the path to our spiritual goals. Here we present a lot of material on the four establishments of mindfulness, which is a very rich practice that people in the Tibetan tradition often do not do, even though they study it. I think it is a very helpful practice, especially before taking tantric initiations. In tantra, we imagine ourselves dissolving into emptiness and our wisdom appearing as the body of a deity. If we have not done the four establishments of mindfulness, we do not understand our current body and mind. What are their causes? How do they operate? When we understand that better, dissolving into emptiness and appearing in the form of a deity in tantra makes more sense. The fourth volume also contains an extensive explanation on how to cultivate concentration.

The subsequent volumes will cover bodhichitta, the perfections, emptiness, tantra, and so forth. When His Holiness asked me to do this, he said, “We don’t need to rewrite the lamrim! This has to be unique.” He wanted material from other Buddhist traditions included, and this has enriched the volumes immensely. The teachings on the four establishments of mindfulness and on concentration will include material from the Pali tradition, not just the Sanskrit tradition. This gives us a broader perspective on the Buddha’s teachings. The various Buddhist traditions are not unrelated; they have a lot in common. We can learn from each other. Some of the bodhisattva vows talk about respecting other traditions and teachings. We are trying to promote not only mutual respect, but also to show the validity of other Buddhist traditions and the ways that learning about them can really help our own practice.

It sounds like this series would be helpful in both Dharma centers and academic environments, and for Buddhist schools like FPMT’s Maitripa College as well.

I think so. The idea is that the series will help people establish a solid foundation in the Buddhist worldview and Dharma practice in a way that combines the richness of the philosophical texts and the practicality of the lamrim. Although the books will help beginners, they are also for people who need a bridge between the relatively simple explanations in the short lamrim texts and the profundity of the classics composed by the Indian sages. They will be a resource for anyone who wants to study Buddhist philosophy, even at a more advanced level. Since this series will be His Holiness’s major English-language teachings, I hope the books will be used in Dharma centers as well as schools and universities.

The series consists of His Holiness’s teachings. My job is to “translate from English into English,” to express more complex points in a clear and understandable way. This is not “Dharma lite”! The teachings are grounded in the genuine, reliable teachings of the Nalanda tradition, supplemented with teachings from other Buddhist traditions where that is helpful.

Do you think Asian Buddhists, including monastics, could benefit too, if the books were translated? I am told that young monastics in the Tibetan tradition, for example, often go straight into philosophical study without much explanation of basic Buddhism.

Yes, I think the books will be useful in Asian contexts, for both lay people and monastics. There is a need. His Holiness wants our earlier book, Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions, to be translated into Tibetan and into as many Asian languages as possible. I anticipate that he will want this series to be widely translated as well. He mentioned young Tibetans who grow up speaking English or German as one group we need to reach out to. With their modern education, whether in India or the West, they ask the same kinds of questions Westerners ask about rebirth and so on. The contemporary style of presenting the material is not just for Westerners, it’s for anyone with a modern education or outlook. In the monasteries young people memorize the philosophical texts but they don’t initially understand the material. It would be helpful if they read this series, especially the volumes that discuss the Buddhist worldview, Buddhist values, social responsibilities, and working with disturbing emotions—all these topics that His Holiness talks about so beautifully. I also think geshes teaching at Dharma centers would find this series useful to use as a root text that that they can elaborate on.

Can the books be used without teaching or commentary?

Yes. People can read and learn on their own. Also, all the books in the series can also be read as individual volumes. Each book covers particular topics, and someone may want to study the topics that they are particularly interested in.

It’s very noticeable, as I look at Approaching the Buddhist Path, that you include reasoning as part of Dharma practice, not just meditation.

His Holiness always talks about that. Again and again he teaches the importance of reasoning in Dharma practice. That doesn’t mean excessive intellectual conceptualization that is “blah, blah ….” Analysis and reasoning help us to go deep and give us a framework to understand our minds and how they work, and what our life situation is and how to change it. People sometimes say they want to get away from intellectualization and meditate to develop concentration and be peaceful. But then they sit down to concentrate and their minds are all over the place. I am an example of that. At first I had no idea what to do with my mind in meditation and lacking proper instructions, I just daydreamed or got frustrated because I could not stop all the disturbing thoughts. In addition, even if we quiet our minds, which is good, we may lack a framework to identify what is a wholesome or unwholesome mental attitude, or what states are helping us to actualize our heartfelt wish for happiness and which ones interfere with that. Just having a calm mind, even if we can accomplish it, does not end samsaric suffering. We need a comprehensive worldview, an accurate path, and ways to verify for ourselves that this path will work. That’s where learning, reasoning, and analysis come in. They are essential parts of our practice.

In addition, we also need to learn how to cultivate certain mental states, such as love and compassion. We can’t will ourselves to have them. We must learn the meditations to open our hearts so that we can accept ourselves and others and at the same time learn how to become kinder and more altruistic human beings.

Are there other notable features of The Library of Wisdom and Compassion that you want to tell us about?

His Holiness’s way of teaching is unique: he will explain a fairly easy concept and then relate it to emptiness or to the extremely subtle mind. His way of clarifying sticky topics is wonderful. He understands the questions Westerners ask and answers them in a straightforward manner. He doesn’t dance around difficult topics, but addresses them directly. And his sense of humor shines through. Even though I’ve been his student for decades, in working with him on this series, the clarity of his wisdom and depth of his compassion really bowled me over.

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Ven. Thubten Chodron has practiced the Buddha’s teachings for more than 40 years. A native of Los Angeles, she ordained as a nun in the Tibetan tradition in 1977 and received the full ordination of a bhikshuni in Taiwan in 1986. Ven. Chodron has studied extensively with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Lama Thubten Yeshe among many other Tibetan masters. She teaches Buddhist philosophy and meditation worldwide, including having served as resident teacher at Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore.

She has published many books, including Good Karma: How to Create the Causes of Happiness and Avoid the Causes of Suffering; Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions; and most recently, Approaching the Buddhist Path. She is currently the abbess of Sravasti Abbey, a Buddhist monastic community in Newport, Washington, United States, which she founded in 2003.

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For more on Approaching the Buddhist Path, visit Wisdom Publications online (www.wisdompubs.org).

Recently, a group of students from Tara Institute in Melbourne, Australia, who had previously received a Yamantaka initiation from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and again from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, gathered to form a Yamantaka study group. Yamantaka is a highest yoga tantra deity considered a wrathful manifestation of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom

The group’s focus was on readying themselves for a Yamantaka retreat, which happened this June, by studying the Yamantaka sadhana, a set of esoteric meditation instructions. As they learned, the preparation ahead of a Yamantaka retreat can be testing and confusing.

The results of the entire project were as much about community as they were about the practice itself. Three centers joined in their efforts to support the students, and the teachers and participants formed a special bond that facilitated focus and determination.

Study group member Cynthia Karena shares the heartfelt reflections of her fellow Yamantaka practitioners:

Following a highest yoga tantra initiation can be perplexing. It’s hard trying to understand the profound meaning of the practice, let alone getting those complex visualizations right.

When some students from Tara Institute (TI) took the Yamantaka initiation from Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in rural Australia, and then again with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2015 in Australia’s Blue Mountains, a few of us were daunted at the prospect of mastering the sadhana and doing the retreat. Personally, I was confused and overwhelmed.

A couple of students asked our teacher Geshe Doga, Tara Institute’s resident geshe, to teach us about the practice. He suggested we meet together as a group to study the sadhana. Long-time TI student Dr. Ross Moore enthusiastically took on the task and formed a fortnightly Yamantaka study group.

Around fifty dedicated students regularly started to work their way through the sadhana, asking questions and seeking clarification on everything from hand mudras to visualizations. Senior students generously shared their expertise, experiences, and kept discussions on track. The study group used commentaries recommended by Geshe Doga, who was regularly consulted for feedback and direction.

TI student Jill Lancashire has been around the Dharma since the ‘70s. She attended the Yamantaka study group and appreciated the set time to resolve unanswered questions.

“The study group is good to become familiar with the meditations. Having them read out so you can actually meditate on them allows you to start memorizing them. Then when you do them yourself, you meditate more than just read the words.”

The meditations are outlined in the short sadhana practice, so people know where and how they fit in, said Jill.

“It’s good to introduce the short sadhana to people who were newly initiated and either had no previous experience with the format of a sadhana or for whom Yamantaka was a new practice.

“The definite thing is that having a schedule and a dedicated group of co-practitioners makes it much easier to do the practices properly and keep them going.”

To have some structure in the sessions, senior student Mark Fernandes, who now runs the group, created a set of questions each fortnight around a particular theme.

Mark has been practicing the Yamantaka sadhana for almost thirty years. In preparation for leading the group, and to get a richer understanding of the practice, Mark researched teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Dagri Rinpoche, Geshe Ngawang Dhargye, Gelek Rinpoche, and Geshe Doga.

“Lama Zopa and then His Holiness have held Yamantaka initiations, so there’s something strong about the practice,” said Mark. “And with Geshe Doga’s guidance, we have three lamas working together to give us something special.”

At the end of last year, Geshe Doga suggested it would be good to do a group Yamantaka retreat and then self-initiation, said Mark, who then moved discussions towards the long sadhana in preparation for the retreat, so people had an idea of what to expect.

So, in mid-June, twenty-five retreatants found themselves sitting nine hours a day for three weeks inside the beautiful golden rammed earth walls of the Thubten Shedrup Ling Monastery gompa, surrounded by Australian bush.

Jill felt that the TI Yamantaka study group formed a necessary base or prerequisite to being able to fulfill the retreat commitment.

“For an ordinary person like me, the Yamantaka sadhana is long, complex, and esoteric. To go in cold to a retreat without having read and discussed the commentaries would have made it very hard to appreciate what the sadhana was actually trying to do, as a couple of people who joined us from outside the study group found out.” 

Monastery director Ven. Thubten Gyatso generously invited the retreat to be held at the monastery, and Atisha Centre helped with accommodation and feeding retreatants.

Senior TI student Margeruite Hanrahan organized the retreat with the monastery’s Ven. Jampa Choepel who led the retreat and Andy Melnic, the spiritual program coordinator of Atisha Centre.

The retreat demonstrates what cooperation between separate centers can achieve, said Jill. “TI, a city center with loads of students, Atisha Centre, a rural center with accommodation, and Thubten Shedrup Ling adjoins Atisha Centre and is able to provide expert Dharma guidance and exquisite gompa facilities.

“For someone who began at Atisha Centre when it was a few train carriages, a church, and a fibro hut, it was overwhelmingly satisfying to retreat in such wonderful facilities, complete with many holy objects such as the nearby Great Stupa, with such expert guidance from Ven. Jampa supported by the rest of the monks.” 

“Lama Zopa Rinpoche said that the emphasis on activity of the monks at Thubten Shedrup Ling should be as in Pabongkha Rinpoche’s description of a retreat-style monastery,” said Ven. Gyatso. “In their daily practice, the monks would fulfill their tantric sadhana commitments properly and be able to perform all the associated rituals such as pujas, retreats, fire pujas, self-initiations, and so on.

“As there are so few monks at the moment, this was a good opportunity to allow the group retreat to happen. And we may well have a similar retreat next year on Heruka Chakrasamvara or Vajrayogini if the conditions remain conducive. But it’s not definite.”

Jill could not emphasize enough what doing the retreat in a monastic setting, led by a monk for whom Yamantaka was his heart practice, meant to her and the group.

“We were surrounded by holy objects in the garden outside, life-size marble statues of the Sixteen Arhats, and had the Great Stupa just down the path through the bush. Altogether it opened up another dimension that transcended knowledge. Ven. Jampa grounded us with bodhichitta and we felt the practice.

“Hit by fatigue, a few people felt like leaving, but all felt the benefit and knew the rarity of the opportunity, so all stayed and all completed. The Thubten Shedrup Ling monks conducted the fire puja and the self-initiation for us at the end, which was more than helpful, as you need real experience and expertise for these. This was the icing on the cake.”

Ven. Jampa saw the retreat as a wonderful opportunity for people to deepen their understanding and familiarize themselves with some of the more important aspects of the practice.

“Having a sincere group of practitioners that each had a strong wish to make the most out of the opportunity really made for a special occasion,” says Ven. Jampa.

Over the course of three weeks, Ven. Jampa felt the group had put real effort into each and every session. “This showed with the group settling into their practice, becoming more comfortable sitting for longer periods, increasing their ability to concentrate for longer periods, gaining a better understanding of the sadhana, and beginning to gain meditation experience of the words that were said. They were starting to transform the words of the sadhana into actual experiences that can be built on in the future.

“The joy of a more extended retreat is having the chance to reflect over and over again on ideas like bodhichitta, emptiness, and the more specific meditations associated with the practice. Through this, we started to habituate the mind more deeply on these important ideas.”

TI’s fortnightly Yamantaka study group gave people confidence to do the retreat, said Mark. “We cleared up questions and clarified what the practice was about. After the retreat, hopefully we’ll all have a clearer mind and a better practice.

“I believe the practice was removing obstacles and generating wisdom. You could see the results during those three weeks. Some people had sublime experiences, either through dreams or though something that shifted—clarity of mind, energy, or feelings of bliss.”

The TI Yamantaka study group, with now a dedicated core of around twenty, still continues to support each other in teasing out the nuances of the sadhana to deepen their understanding. “People are still keen; they’re not tired of it,” said Mark.

“The Yamantaka practice itself through the blessings of the gurus has made a big difference to the students. And Geshe Doga has manifested great delight at the students’ efforts in the practice, which has provided further inspiration.” 

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Cynthia Karena has a science degree and a Masters in education. She is a freelance journalist and documentary researcher in Australia.

Learn more about the programs and activities available at Thubten Shedrup Ling, Atisha Centre, and Tara Institute.

Mandala is offered as a benefit to supporters of the Friends of FPMT program, which provides funding for the educational, charitable and online work of FPMT.

On May 8, 2017, after twenty years of study at Sera Je Monastic University, Ven. Tenzin Namdak, a registered FPMT teacher and native of the Netherlands, was formally awarded his geshe degree during a three-day ceremony that included public debate, recitation of memorized texts, and pujas. Geshe Namdak is the first Westerner to complete the full course of studies at Sera Je Monastery and also to sit for the final geshe examination there, a tremendous achievement.

Ven. Gyalten Lekden, who is in his fifth year of geshe studies at Sera Je, interviewed Geshe Namdak for Mandala in June 2017.

Ven. Gyalten Lekden: Thank you so much for the chance to interview you today, Geshe Namdak-la. Would you briefly introduce yourself?

Geshe Namdak: Well, “Geshe” I am not very used to yet! Anyway, I am Tenzin Namdak. I have stayed in Sera for about twenty years and studied a little bit, and based on that the monastery decided to give me a geshe degree.

You grew up in the Netherlands, where, according to the 2016 census, 68 percent of the population claim no religious affiliation. With that as your background, what was your own spiritual journey like?

You know, people in Holland are easy-going and open-minded. My parents were not really religious as such; they wouldn’t say they were Christian. When I was very young we sometimes went to church, maybe for Christmas or something, but that also disappeared after some time. So when I started looking into spiritual practice, I did not have any baggage, I was wide open.

When I started university, I began to generate more interest in Eastern philosophy. I had a martial arts background, first training in tae kwon do and then moving to less aggressive martial arts like kung fu and then eventually to tai chi. From there I generated an interest in Chinese medicine. At that time, I had already stopped going to parties, and the other things people normally do on the weekends. Instead, I spent my weekends studying Chinese medicine. This led me to a conference that had a variety of speakers. At that conference, Geshe-la, I mean Geshe Sonam Gyaltsen, who had just came to Holland, gave a talk about mental and physical health. I attended his talk and it was very inspiring. When the presentations finished, I went straight away to the stand of his particular organization, which was FPMT’s Maitreya Instituut, and I took a brochure.

You just finished your geshe degree, but before ordaining you completed your university degree in hydrology. Do you see some benefits of that secular study translated into your monastic study?

Growing up in the West, having an education, and working one year for the government on an environmental project—those all gave me a wide range of experience. If you want to become a monk, it’s good to have a little experience of ordinary life so you know what you are leaving behind. So from that point of view, I think , yeah, it isn’t wasted. It is beneficial to know what is going on in the West, and based on that, make the decision to become a monk, so then the decision is based in reality and not simply an idealistic or imaginative idea of what being a monk might be like. Also, study and practice in a variety of disciplines was helpful because it gave me a bigger picture of the world, which helped me to understand the study of Buddhism from different points of view. It maybe gave me ways to communicate to different types of people, too. So, like that, a little study and experience of ordinary life has been useful in making my ordained life more robust. As far as helping my study here, well, the more points of view and experience you have will always help any future study, right? A broader view helps make sure you don’t have blinders on, that you can see how different things might fit together.

You were ordained when you were twenty-five, shortly after finishing university. So in a very short time span you went from knowing nothing about Buddhism to ordaining as a monk. How did that come about?

I was actually twenty-two when I went to that first conference and twenty-three when I went to Maitreya Instituut for the first time in 1993. Having received my first teachings at Maitreya Instituut, within a few months I already thought, “OK, I have to become a monk.” Then Geshe-la very kindly said, “Don’t rush, wait. You finish uni. You stay for at least a year in the center, study more, and then we talk again.”

I graduated and then worked for the government on a project for a while. Then I finished that and lived at the center. I talked again to Geshe-la, and Geshe-la said very kindly, “OK, so if you want to become a monk, what do you want to do? Go and look at India, have a look around, see what you want to do.” So that’s what I did. Eventually I was able to see Lama Zopa Rinpoche again, who I had met him the first time in 1993, and his advice helped me make the final decision.

In a 2016 Mandala article that you wrote, you say that a lot of Westerners are short-sighted, wanting to focus only on meditation practice or only on study, and they don’t create any sort of unity between the two. When you first ordained, you quickly joined Sera and began an intense study program, so I am wondering, does the advice you give come from personal experience? What led you to join the geshe curriculum at one of the Great Seats [Sera, Ganden, and Drepung] instead of focusing on meditation or retreat?

[Laughs] Well, I was very short-sighted in the beginning, too. I thought, “I will become a monk and there is no need for Tibetan language, I will just do everything in English. I will do retreats.” That’s what I thought. But then my teachers— Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Dagpo Rinpoche—so kindly made it very clear that that was not the right way to go. They emphasized learning Tibetan, and based on that, going to and studying at Sera. Of course, initially, I didn’t know much about the program; it wasn’t on my mind until it was advised. So I started to learn some Tibetan in Dharamsala and then based on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice I came to Sera. So that advice in my article comes from being one of the short-sighted people myself! And it was really the blessings from my gurus to see how not learning Tibetan or studying wasn’t the right way. They helped guide me to where I am now.

When you first ordained, if someone had told you that you were going to start a twenty-year study program and earn a geshe degree, what would you have said?

Rinpoche told me in 1993, the first time we met! Of course, at that time it didn’t make sense. Rinpoche told me, “Learn Tibetan; become a geshe.” At that time I didn’t even know what a geshe was all about, so it was quite strange. But the idea of being in a study program for twenty more years, and finishing that and getting the geshe degree? Of course, that never comes to mind. You never think that far ahead, generally speaking. The gurus have this long-term view, but most of the time that is lacking for us. Initially I thought, “Learn Tibetan, study a bit, see how it goes. Maybe do the Prajñaparamita studies and the Madhyamaka studies, but then leave and do retreat.” But later Rinpoche told me very clearly to keep going.

When you finally joined the geshe program at Sera you were one of very few Westerners here, and living at the monastery was more difficult then. In addition, over any course of study or practice internal difficulties are bound to arise as well. How have you navigated those difficulties over time?

It’s true, Sera was very different than it is now. The conditions were much rougher. For example, I lived in the khangtsen and there were no showers, only a bucket for washing outside with the hand pump. The toilets were horrific. The food wasn’t as good as it is now. I lived with a roommate in a very small room, and it was always noisy and without privacy. It wasn’t always clean.

Initially, it was pretty rough. In one aspect, it was difficult. But the other aspect is that it was very good for practice. The Tibetans, they do a lot of teasing, you know? They try to go as far as possible to make the “I” come up before you actually get angry. And that is not always easy! But, in the context of the study program, it was a very helpful way to practice. Of course, sometimes I would get a little fed up. I would go to a friend’s place at the other side of the monastery and would stay there for a few days!

Even if you have good outer conditions, sometimes you can have some mental obstacles and your mind gets unhappy. Those kinds of experiences can happen wherever you go, whatever you do. But, especially here at the monastery, if you were to leave, what else would you do? Seeing the incredible benefits of the system, what else would you do? Sometimes I thought maybe retreat would be better, but other than that, nothing else came to mind. The mind maybe is unhappy, maybe because the outer conditions are difficult or maybe some other reason, but the truth is that unhappiness never comes from the outside and there really is no other place to go that offers the same benefits. The gurus advise us to stay here because no matter where you go, you cannot run away from your unhappiness—you bring it with you. You can only run away from a very beneficial opportunity for study and practice! My strategies are always the same: I try to step back to take a longer view, trust in my guru’s advice, and rejoice in the many benefits that I have. Difficulties may come, they may even stay for some time, but at a certain point, they disappear.

You have seen a lot of changes to the monastery and its academic program over the last two decades, and even more if you consider what we know of Sera in Lhasa in the early twentieth century. Our enrollment numbers are down every year, the outside world is definitely more distracting than ever before; it seems obstacles come from all sides. Speaking as someone who has now completed this method of institutional study, where does this traditional monastic university go in the future?

According to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the real preservation of the Dharma of the Nalanda tradition is done mainly through Ganden, Drepung, and Sera—the Great Seats. Of course, there are big monastic institutions of the Nyingma and other traditions as well. If those disappear or degenerate, then upholding the whole Buddhist doctrine and the Nalanda tradition becomes more difficult. Sometimes it is important to remember the real purpose of a monastery like Sera: to provide an unbroken and authentic lineage of the teachings of Je Tsongkhapa for all future generations. The heart of the monastery is to do that, and for those of us here, we just get some benefit from being part of that, being close to that. I’m not saying that I am doing that, of course! I just happened to stay here long enough that they gave me this new title.

They say that compared to what it was like in Tibet, the number of really top scholars and the level of scholarship is maybe not so high now. However, the overall level of study is much higher than it was in Tibet, because there is more availability. So even if the top of the top isn’t as high as before, the average is higher, and from that point of view, it is a positive. From another point of view, of course, there are fewer monks coming—and that’s a bit of a worry.

I think that if the monastery can show the monks how to embrace the modern world and modern learning without sacrificing the authenticity of the lineage, then it might help with our enrollment and dropout rates. One way the monastery is trying is the new science studies the monastery has started. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been pushing science studies forward for the last few decades. Using outside forms of authority—for example, academia—to explore and reinforce the Dharma brings more support and respect from international spiritual and scientific communities, and that is helpful. This is something I have been interested in, too. Not the physical sciences so much, but the mind sciences and some quantum sciences, what bits I can understand. I think they complement the Dharma study and give more tools to use when I contemplate the meaning of the texts. Of course, this kind of study is secondary next to the philosophic studies. It is a yan lag, a “branch.” The main thing is the studies. But if you have science, it is yan lag phun sum ‘tshogs pa, which means the right aspects are present to preserve the Dharma as it interacts with the outer world. The monks need to have an understanding of how to communicate with people outside the monastery, and not just the language, but also the ideas, the concepts. They need a little scientific understanding of the world as well.

For the last twenty years not only have you been engaging in studies full time, but you work for the monastery quite a lot and the greater Dharma community in the area. You helped establish IMI House and have been its director for quite a long time. You helped organize and teach translation courses here at the monastery. You have translated for various lamas that have traveled through the monastery. You’ve worked with His Holiness’s office to run the pre-ordination course in Dharamsala for the last six years. And of course you have been instrumental in the growth of Choe Khor Sum Ling, the FPMT center in Bangalore. The monastery is already a full-time commitment and you add a few more full-time commitments on top of it!

Well, the monastery curriculum by itself is very busy. On top of that, since I came to Sera, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has always very kindly had something for me to do, in case I were to get bored. In one way, it is a busy schedule, but it gives me satisfaction. If studies are mainly to cultivate and benefit my own mind, then doing these projects for others on the side gives me a little bit of satisfaction, because I can think, “Wow, it’s pretty beneficial to be here because I am doing these studies, but alongside these studies I can try to benefit others as well.” So I think that maybe asking me to do all of these kinds of projects is the kindness of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, to make sure I get some kind of merit! Perhaps a little bit of merit helped me to get through the studies. He always takes the long view, as I said.

Most of the work we do in the monastery is not ordinary work, right? Especially organizing teachings or doing Rinpoche’s projects, like those for the Bangalore center. It is for the vast vision of the gurus, so it is basically also an accumulation of merit. That’s what we like to do in our daily practice as well. We like to accumulate merit and purify negativities and transform the mind. You get a lot of opportunities from following the guru’s advice and all of these other things as well. For example, we had just finished building IMI House here at Sera when Lama Zopa Rinpoche came—that same year—to start the Bangalore center, Choe Khor Sum Ling, on the advice of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I was very afraid because I thought, “Rinpoche is going to ask me a favor,” and then, of course, Rinpoche did! He is very kind that way. You see how I was thinking only about myself and he helped me break through that? At first it was very tough, there were various obstacles, but that happens with new centers. In the beginning we had to put a lot of effort into it. But then after some time, it started to take off, and we didn’t have to do quite as much work as we did the first few years. Getting to be part of the guru’s vision, seeing something develop like a center, a community that is self-sufficient, and sharing the Dharma—that’s a good feeling. It makes all the work worth it!

Of course, it isn’t always easy to balance these projects with my studies and practice. Sometimes it’s difficult. At those times I just do my commitments and that’s it—there’s no more time. But there are other periods where it is a little more relaxed, you know? I think it’s important, whether or not you’re in the middle of a Dharma project, to make sure to reserve some time for your practice. Take some time off to do some retreat. Or, on a daily basis, don’t answer phone calls until a particular time in the morning, but instead, do lamrim contemplations and commitments quietly and think about the meaning a little bit. Of course, if things have to happen and you have to work, then you have to do the best you can. Dharma projects and center work are also practice, so I always keep that in mind. I mean, we always pray to become a buddha for the benefit of all sentient beings. This is how to do that, you see? Following the guru’s vast vision means that you’re not only doing your own thing and your own practice, but also on the side you are able to benefit others. My personal capacities to benefit others are very limited, of course! Still, I try to follow the guru’s advice, the guru’s instructions, and slowly things work out, no matter how busy things seem to be.

You’ve joked about not having any karma with the United States, no karma to live in a big, fast-paced city. Joking aside, what do you think about living as a Dharma practitioner in an environment where the conditions are not considered conducive?

It’s the same in Sera, right? It’s not always easy, whether the conditions are rough or if you have been given advice that keeps you very busy. I think having faith in the long-term vision gives you strength and helps keep the mind happy. When the mind is happy, it is easier to do your practice as well. I always remind myself how far-reaching the guru’s vision is, how the guru is thinking about so much more than just this small moment, and understanding that makes the difficulties of the immediate moment fall away.

I think we are very short-sighted, generally speaking. If you have the long-term view, like the gurus have … I mean, they are looking at lifetimes! But even in one lifetime the mind can change! One year, two years, three years, ten years, it can happen! What the teachers here advise is go over the texts, study, try to put things into practice. It is not always easy and maybe the mind doesn’t change right away. However, all of the seeds are there, the seeds are planted—one day in the future the mind will change. I make sure that, on a daily basis, I am grounded in my practice, grounded in the lamrim and lojong. It is about habituation. Over time it will bear fruit and it will be easier to deal with the external environment and all sorts of people.

You have to have a great vision but without too many expectations—“I’m going to change my mind within a few years” or “I’m going to get realizations if I do this three-year retreat”—because of course it’s not going to happen the way you expect. If we think of the three countless great eons it takes to become a buddha according to the fastest track in sutra system, then what is a few decades of study or a few decades of retreat or a few decades of serving the center, or whatever? It’s peanuts, right? So if you think in that way, about the big picture, how over lifetimes you are going in the same direction, then one day, the realizations come. And maybe before those realizations, even if the situation is rough, you can still find it meaningful and find ways to have it encourage your practice.

Other than the actual Buddhist philosophy, what have you learned the most over the last twenty years here at Sera?

I don’t know. I mean, to develop the mind takes a long time, right? It’s the same with learning a language, it takes a long time. And you don’t really notice if you progress or not because it is a very slow process. I have learned a lot from the Tibetans: to be more relaxed, to do things in a relaxed manner. Some of the monks are very relaxed, but at the same time they work very hard. Keep the mind in that relaxed state—that’s what the gurus show us all of the time. I learned quite a bit from the Tibetans to be serious, to work as hard as you can—but keep a kind of relaxed state of mind. Sometimes that’s not always easy, though!

The other monks at Sera IMI House call you “the MVD,” which stands for the Most Venerable Director, a play on the idea of MVP, the Most Valuable Player on a sports team. And it’s true that you’re a role model and example for a lot of other monks here, Westerners and Himalayan. Is that something you think about?

It is the same way I think about giving talks and interviews. Just generate a good motivation, pray to the guru, and then try to do the best you can do. If it works out well, then, it works out. I don’t really go for thinking about these things too much; it really isn’t helpful to ever think about yourself like that.

Considering all of your training and your experience, and that you are the first Westerner to enter and complete the geshe curriculum in its entirety at Sera Je, what comes next?

I want to disappear into a cave! Rinpoche advised maybe half teaching and half retreat, and he also indicated to visit different centers, which fits me and gives me more freedom to do some other projects as well. So, I think I will give some courses here and there, do some retreat, as Rinpoche has advised, go to Gyume Tantric Monastery for a year or maybe a little longer. We will see.

So, the million-dollar question, I suppose: Looking back over the last two decades at Sera Je, are you happy?

Happy? At which level? [Laughs] I mean, generally speaking, of course. Finishing the whole study program gives an opportunity to rejoice. I didn’t do much but at least there was some Dharma activity involved for the last twenty years, so that is something to rejoice in, and that makes the mind happy. Having had the opportunity to have studied the five major topics of Buddhist philosophy extensively together with doing countless prayers and pujas in big gatherings of Sangha and having received many precious and rare teachings over all those years feels very fortunate. So, yeah, I suppose I have been pretty happy with how it has gone the last twenty years. I have been very fortunate that the guru gave me this opportunity!

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Read more about FPMT-registered teacher Geshe Namdak.

Watch a video of Geshe Namdak’s graduation ceremony. 

Mandala is offered as a benefit to supporters of the Friends of FPMT program, which provides funding for the educational, charitable and online work of FPMT.